Collecting Dust
by SylverEyes
Summary: Ideas that have been collecting dust in my brain. One hundred prompts for your perusal. Family, friends, love and more. Newest: Monster; She did what she had to do, to save him, without realizing the consequences.
1. Coloring

Ah, I gave in and decided to start a drabble series. This is so that if I get some random idea, or have writer's block, I can write quickly and get it over with so that I can go back to the things that I really need to work on. But this was a lot of fun to do. And thanks go out to _Seraephina _for the prompts, and for giving this a quick once over before posting. You rock! :D

**Disclaimer: **More like the Titans own _me_.

--

**69. Coloring**

Starfire was on another one of her rampages. When her face got set like that, you knew that someone would be run over by her today, and everybody was steering well away. Her green eyes were flint hard and her smile nearly consumed her face. The girl was determined to corner one of the other four Titans and badger them (kindly, of course) into agreeing with what it was she was on about this time. When she wandered into a room, the others would find some excuse to immediately vacate the premises. But one of them would be caught eventually, and they knew that. They just didn't want it to be them.

Beast Boy had morphed into a green gecko and scrambled up the wall into a corner. Starfire had attempted to pin him under her hand, but he kept scampering away across the ceiling and walls, using more athletic ability than she had seen him attempt to use during most of their battles with villains. Robin had bolted the door to his workroom shut and shouted at her that he remembered he had mounds of paperwork to do, when he had told his team just yesterday that he wouldn't do any work today and attempt to be somewhat social. Raven had tried her usual glaring and ignoring techniques, but when Starfire hadn't been fazed in the least she simply transported herself away. The alien hadn't been able to find her anywhere she looked, making her think that she had actually gone to another dimension this time.

Cyborg exited the garage, wiping his hands off with a rag, glancing around furtively. Sure enough, Starfire's brilliant red hair could be seen turning the corner. He immediately spun around on his heel and hightailed it back to the door of the garage, but he couldn't get there before—

"Cyborg!" she called cheerfully, speeding up so that she could block his way back down the hallway. It was amazing how someone so tiny could suddenly take up so much space. She grinned up at him, and the machine man knew what was coming next. He silently cursed his luck, and for the first time ever wished he had Raven's powers so that he could simply stick Starfire to a wall and proceed on by her without a thought.

"Yes, Starfire?" he asked as casually as he could.

"Will you be joining me in my outing to the garten of kinder? I promised the teacher that we would play with the children today! They said that we would be coloring on white paper, and I am quite excited to do so with them, as I have always liked to use the pencils of color, and the children are very nice." Her huge eyes blinked up at him and he groaned inwardly. He knew he would lose this battle before he even started to try and fight back.

"I dunno, Star, I'm not so good with coloring. And I really have to work on the T-car, its engine blew out the other day, and I've gotta fix it—"

Her tinkling laugh stopped his excuses short. "Nonsense!" she told him firmly, getting that hard look back on her face. "I am sure you will be fine with the coloring, and I saw you coming from the T-car, which means that you must have already fixed it!" Starfire grabbed hold of his hand and began pulling him in the other direction, even though Cyborg dug his feet into the floor. All that did was leave awful streak marks and force Cyborg to almost lose his balance.

"Star! Really, I can't, I'm not the guy you should be asking, I'm sure- I'm sure…" but he couldn't think of what he was sure of. All he knew was that he really, really didn't want to go color with these kids, and the fact that he had to was starting to fuzz his thinking ability. He couldn't, he _couldn't_, and it spun through his head as a mantra, the one thing that he grasped onto. He couldn't, he couldn't, he couldn't, he couldn't…

The hero barely noticed the wind on his face as Starfire carried him through the air, or the buildings that zoomed by below, or the fact that they had even left the tower at all. He felt like his heart was in his throat as it pounded furiously. And he wanted to berate himself. These were little kids who just wanted the company of some local heroes to do something that they loved to do. But he couldn't get over the fear. The laughing voices, the cruelest torture that he had ever known. The name-calling, the lost friends, the feeling of being completely and utterly alone. All accentuated by the children, those children who felt the need to degrade him.

And then they were there. Starfire gently let him down, eyes sparkling with gratitude that he had allowed her to drag him there with her. She took his hand gently and led him inside. The two of them navigated the tiny halls carefully for a minute or two. Curious heads poked out of classrooms and teachers called them back to what they were doing. The older kids didn't get up out of their seats but huge grins spread on their faces when they saw two of their heroes walking through the hallways. Eventually they reached the correct room, and Starfire knocked on the door, still holding his hand as though to make sure that he didn't run away, or to give support. At the moment, he wasn't sure which he wanted more.

"Come in!" chorused young voices from the other side of the door, in varying degrees of excitement.

The door opened. At least ten pairs of huge eyes stared up at them. Cyborg felt his breath catch in his chest. The eyes were wary and uncaring, and the voices weren't cute anymore; they were vicious and sharp as a knife. Their words, their words, they cut him to the quick, and he winced, wanting to shy away from the accusing faces, the ones that told him that he wasn't normal, wasn't natural and didn't belong with them. They were throwing things, ripping his papers, and laughing and laughing and laughing and he couldn't do anything about it, and he couldn't, he couldn't, he _couldn't_… !

But all of a sudden there was a slight warmth and Starfire was squeezing his hand and they were walking into the room. The eyes were younger again and the smiles were innocent and they weren't laughing at him. There was a clear admiration shining from the depths of them. Starfire said hello and exchanged a few words with the teacher, who turned to her students and smiled, saying something that Cyborg wasn't able to focus on. As soon as she finished, they surged up and pulled the two of them apart, sitting them down and getting out the paper and pencils and crayons and markers and starting to work.

Cyborg gingerly chose a piece of white paper and set it down in front of him, vaguely aware of the kids suggesting things for him to draw and talking to each other animatedly. He hated coloring. He hated it with a passion. Cyborg was a pretty easy-going guy. There weren't many things that he objected to very strongly, but coloring was definitely one of them. He had hated it ever since his accident. The young man's hands were completely made of metal now. They were large and chunky and they were a hindrance. He couldn't color anymore. It was difficult to hold a pencil or a crayon without breaking it, and even when he could, it was nearly impossible for him to color inside the lines. He should have explained to Starfire more clearly just _why_ he really, really couldn't do this.

"Starfire," he hissed, leaning over to the tiny table next to him where she was sitting with the rest of the kids. One little girl with blonde hair in pigtails that were coming undone was determinedly coloring with a green marker on Starfire's forearm, completely ignoring the paper in front of her. A boy on the other side of Starfire who looked like he had a cold, for he needed to wipe his nose, had his tongue poking out of his mouth in concentration while he used a red marker on Starfire's hair. After he did, he turned to his friends near him with wide brown eyes and an amazed gaze.

"Her hair is the same color!" he exclaimed. The others gasped, and some put their hands to their mouths in shock. Starfire smiled, not at all bothered that the kids were coloring all over her. She was preoccupied with them, coloring her own pictures and responding when they spoke to her. She looked like she was having just as much fun as the children were, which wouldn't have surprised Cyborg in the least if it turned out to be true.

"Starfire!" he said more insistently, reaching over and rapping her on the head with his knuckles. She turned to face him expectantly, raising her eyebrows. "I can't color!" he whispered. The smile disappeared off of her face and she frowned slightly, partially out of confusion and partially out of upset. Starfire was going to protest, but Cyborg forestalled it. "My hands are too big. I can't color well. I can't do it."

There was a pause where Starfire's eyes met his firmly, searching his face. Finally she surprised him by giggling, a sound that he was definitely not expecting. "Cyborg," she whispered back to him, humor practically rolling off of her in sheets. "The children will not mind if you cannot color. We are here so that we may _be_ with them. You should attempt to use the pencils of color, I think. You will not upset them if you are not the best they have ever seen." She shook her head, as though he was four years old and blind for not seeing something this obvious, and went back to what she had been doing.

Cyborg was frozen for a second. He slowly turned back to the blindingly white paper on the table in front of him, mocking him. With a concentrated effort he grabbed the closest thing to him, which happened to be a maroon crayon and tentatively drew a circle. The crayon didn't break. It wasn't the best circle ever, and there were some definite dents in it. He looked at it critically, but was interrupted by an inquiring voice.

"What're you drawing?" asked the long-haired boy sitting to his right who was leaning over to examine it more closely. The girl on the other side of him whacked his arm and shouted in a voice that was much louder than necessary that he was _obviously_ drawing a person's head. _Duh._ But another girl across the table shook her head vehemently, braids flying in the air and corrected her, arguing that he must be drawing a lollipop. It erupted into a heated argument between anyone who could hear just what Cyborg was planning on making his circle into. There were ridiculous guesses being thrown back and forth such as a truck and the T-tower and Starfire's fingernails.

The machine man looked to Starfire, whose gaze was on him. He smiled in a hesitant, almost astonished way and she grinned back at him, nodding.

"Actually guys," he said, causing a hush over the children who looked up at him expectantly. "I'm drawing a sun."

There was a burst of laughter from around the table, and the kid from before with long hair shook his head, grabbing a black marker from the box in the middle of the tiny table and saying while he added to the picture, "You have to draw sunglasses and a smile for it to be a sun."

Cyborg grinned, happy to sit back and let them fix whatever they felt needed to be fixed. "Of course," he muttered contentedly, "How could I have forgotten the sunglasses?"

--

When the two of them entered the main room later that day, the other three Titans were already there. Beast Boy and Robin were shouting, trying to knock each other out of the ring, alternately bragging and complaining depending on who had the upper hand. Raven was curled up on the other end of the couch from where they were sitting, reading some book or another and exercising her now well-honed ability to ignore all noises in the vicinity of her person. Cyborg and Starfire were chatting easily about the afternoon, and the three others looked up from a marked place in a book and a paused video game.

"Dude, nice tattoos, guys!" said Beast Boy, grinning at them. Neither was upset, both going straight for the refrigerator to have a lunch that they had had to skip while at the school. Beast Boy had been referring to the hearts, stars, faces, houses, clouds and animals that had been doodled all over the metal of Cyborg's torso and the golden skin of Starfire's arms. Both had agreed that since the marker would come off easily when washed, the kids could draw on them. Some had even signed their names.

"Thank you!" called Starfire from where her head was buried in the fridge. She emerged with a bottle of mustard and a bowl of her Tamaranian glorg. Fortunately, she didn't offer to share with anyone. The others thanked their lucky stars that she was in a selfish mood for once.

"Better you than me," muttered Raven, turning back to her book.

Robin grinned, agreeing with this sentiment, and asked of Cyborg, "So she finally got you, huh?"

"Yeah," agreed Cyborg. "She finally got me." He met Starfire's grateful and cheery green eyes and smiled at her. "I'd do it again, too."

--

**Author's Notes:**

There we go. I never thought that I could actually get so creative with these things. Huh. That's new. Um, this is me working on my Cyborg. He's the hardest for me to write, even though I do love him so. So, he's better than I've written him before, but he's definitely not as good as he could be. I know that. I'm working on it. :P

Also, this will probably be my last post for a while, since I'm going to Cape Cod with my family for a week, and I won't have any internet access there. I'll miss you guys terribly, and probably get a bunch of inspiration while I'm there, but that's what notebooks are for, right? I'll see you guys later!

Please read and review, everyone!


	2. Caught

Here we go, number two! Sorry it took so long, but... a lot of stuff has happened recently and I didn't want my writing to be affected by the mopiness of my muse. Thanks again to _Seraephina_, who is totally saving my life with her quick beta skills; honestly, if it weren't for her, I'm sure you wouldn't be able to get through this.

**Disclaimer:** -insert witty remark about not owning Teen Titans here-

--

**77. Caught**

Starfire was not someone easily swayed. She was quick to make friends and be accommodating, but she was steadfast in her opinions and views on the world. For instance, she believed that there was good in everyone, and they simply needed to find it. She believed that there was always something that could be done. She did not believe in giving up. And she believed that everyone had the right to live well and happily.

That was why Starfire did _not _take to criminals.

Red X was a criminal. He was simply a man in a suit (which he also stole) who did things that were against the law. That was all. There was nothing else about him that was notable. And there definitely wasn't anything about him that was redeemable. He was stuck as a thief until he made his conscious decision to change. And from what he showed the Titans whenever they engaged in battle, he was not going to be changing anytime soon.

--

"How's it goin', beautiful?" he whispers in her ear, and she hates it. She whirls around and hurls a starbolt in his direction, but it collides with a wall instead of a smooth-talking thief.

"Nice try, hun," his voice comes again with a chuckle in it, and Starfire spins around once more, but there is nothing there. With a growl of frustration she slowly turns in a circle as she floats, desperately hoping that she can catch a glimpse of him before he disappears again.

From nowhere, a large, red, sticky X appears and pins her bodily to the wall behind her, thrusting her through empty boxes as it does so. A small shriek of surprise escapes her mouth before she can stifle it, along with the rest of the air in her lungs, and that upsets her too. She scowls and struggles to rip herself free of the sticky substance, although it was made to hold her. When it becomes obvious that there will be no easy freedom, the girl stops and scans the area around her for the criminal.

He appears in front of her, standing nonchalantly as though he's always been there. She narrows her eyes at him and shoots eye beams, but he merely somersaults out of the way. He is too fast for her. Starfire watches as he approaches, still attempting to free herself. She pulls at the substance, pleased when small parts of it seem to be coming off. Not quickly enough, though, and Red X is standing in front of her, far too close for comfort.

He stares at her through his mask, and she glares back at him, weighing the options of trying to shoot him again with her eye beam and waiting for the rest of her team to arrive so that they could apprehend him.

"Come on now, gorgeous," he purrs, allowing one finger to trace her jaw line. "Why don't you leave Bird Boy over there?" His touch is sending shivers down her spine and she hates it, she _hates it_. "You're wasting your time and your powers with these guys."

This makes her angry. Starfire decides that catching Red X would be much less satisfying than blasting him, so she does so, happily catching him full on the chest. She throws her body weight forward and strains with all her might until the X releases her from the wall and she falls towards the ground. Strong arms catch her, and she looks up to see the white skull mask staring down into her glowing green eyes. "Wouldn't a date with me be so much more interesting, sweetheart?" he asks like their previous one-sided conversation hadn't been interrupted.

She hates him so much, and proves it by maneuvering so that her leg, her only free limb, can connect with his body. She kicks with as much force as she will ever use on a villain, causing him to drop her bodily, but she doesn't mind; it is better than being held by him. Soon afterwards he jumps up to confront Starfire again, only to find her lying on the ground, entangled in his X. She snarls at him when he comes near, but it does not faze him. He makes a quick swoop in, "Until next time, love," strokes her cheek and disappears.

If there was ever a time to curse in Tamaranian, it is now. Starfire's eyes are tearing up from the emotion that was roiling inside of her. An eternity too late, the rest of her team arrives, having only just escaped the traps laid for them by the thief.

"Star! Are you okay?" shouts Robin, sprinting to her side and immediately beginning to work on cutting her loose. The others join him, eyes concerned. She cannot look at any of them, especially her leader. She fears that he may see it in her eyes. Starfire clenches them shut and waits for her friends to free her, hoping that even if they find out they will still love her. But she knows that this cannot be the case. She _hates_ that man. _Hates_ him.

--

Starfire sat in her room with the blinds drawn. Her legs were pulled up to her chest and her eyes were closed. She felt her heart clench painfully in her chest and sucked in a breath. The alien could not stand to face any of her friends at the moment. They might be able to see it in her expression, or in the way that she moved or talked. And what would they say if they found out? What would Robin say if he found out?

She loved Robin. She loved him with all her heart. He was brave, determined, intelligent and always willing to be there for her. He was the leader of their team, one of her best friends, and he was a hero. She knew that it was impossible for her to not love him even if she tried. Loving Robin was a part of her. She would feel incomplete without it.

Red X… he was merely a criminal. He stole things and generally made a nuisance of himself. He found ways to get under each of their skins, and he was the epitome of the anti-hero. Someone who only did things because they could. He had no reason behind it; he stole because it was possible, and for nothing else. He only watched out for himself, and didn't care about anyone.

He only called her names because it would help him, she told herself fiercely. He said she was gorgeous because it was convenient for him. That's what Starfire tried to tell herself every time they fought him. He always managed to get her alone, and he always managed to catch her off guard. Starfire had learned to not answer him, knowing that her remarks would only fuel him on, and she didn't know how much of those words she could take.

But Starfire was a Tamaranian, and Tamaranians were emotional beings. She was in tune with emotions, not in the same way that Raven was, but because she cared about everyone, and was open to them. She knew sincerity from falsity, and Red X was never lying when he spoke to her about her looks, or her abilities, or any such thing. He didn't even use that mocking tone that the alien had come to recognize when he addressed Robin and the others. It was something else, with a sort of 'baring of the soul' quality underlying it.

Robin had never called her beautiful. He had never said to her that she was powerful simply because he meant it, not after showing some ability that inspired awe in him. He didn't look at her the way that she could feel Red X did, and he definitely didn't touch her in that way that made a heat gather in her stomach and sent tingles rushing to whatever spot he grazed. Robin had never given her any of that, and Red X was filling the gaps. In a way, she liked what he did. And that's why she despised him.

She knew the truth of these words. Red X truly believed that she was beautiful, that she was powerful, and that she deserved better than her friends. Starfire hated him for that. She cursed him for degrading her wonderful friends, for assuming that she would be so easily swept away to join him with his thieving, for being a thief in the first place, and cursed him for making her feel the way that she did.

She loved Robin, she loved Robin, _she loved Robin_…!

Starfire buried her head in her arms, red locks spilling down her back, and wept.

--

**Author's Notes:**

Wow. Starfire. I think I'm in a Starfire phase right now, but I guess it's alright; you don't see her written enough, and when she is, she's normally hanging off of Robin's arm... but anyways! I've got a few more drabbles lined up to go, so you'll be seeing some more really soon. :D You know, I'm opposed to RobStar, but as you can see, I'm somewhat of a fan of XStar. -evil laughter- In the words of Seraephina, "I support Red X/anyone female. He's just cool and suave like that." Because he really is. ;)

After you finished reading, please drop me a review!


	3. Cold

I told you another one would be up quickly! Once again, many thanks to _Seraephina_ for the quick beta stuff, or else you probably couldn't read it. Now, off to read, there's nothing else to see here! Go on, shoo!

**Disclaimer:** If I owned the Titans, I would recruit Rab to my team (among others) and we would answer all the unanswered questions, show all the unseen scenes.

--

**39. Cold**

Starfire didn't get cold. It was like a law of the universe. It was something that couldn't be changed or reversed no matter how hard someone tried. It was a characteristic; Beast Boy told jokes, Robin was a workaholic, and Starfire didn't get cold. But it was more than that, too. And it became such a part of their daily lives that eventually they didn't think about it anymore; it just _was_. Starfire had red hair, Starfire was tall, Starfire didn't get cold. There wasn't really any other way of describing the fact.

During the winter in Jump City, this wasn't really much to think about. If it snowed, it rarely ever stayed on the ground, and no heavy snow coats or boots were needed. Sometimes the temperature dropped low enough to be called chilly, but never with much bite in it, and never enough to actually be considered _cold_. Suffice to say, winters in Jump were not all that exciting, and they paid little attention to the season changes in their town.

However, this year Beast Boy had had an idea, and a surprisingly good one at that. He suggested that the Titans East and Titans West switched towers for a few weeks in the winter season, making the arguments that he just _had _to see a real snowstorm, and they wouldn't be neglecting their duties as heroes protecting their cities. They would simply be switching to a different city to protect. Cyborg had immediately been on board with this plan, and Starfire, after a bit of consideration, thought this a splendid idea. Robin had been reluctant, but could find no solid reason not to test out this plan, reasoning with himself that he could always prevent something such as this happening again if it turned out to be a total disaster.

Raven was the only one who was completely against it no matter how much prodding she endured. She flat out refused to get cold. The empath hated the cold with a burning passion that could melt any snow around her. Of course, this wouldn't help should there actually _be_ any snow. However, she went along with the whole thing anyways; it was four against one, and they assured her that there would be a plentiful supply of cold weather clothes for all. Raven grumbled the entire way to Steel City.

So here they were, on the roof of the tower in their temporary home. There were piles of snow all around them, and the Titans delighted in it. Snowball fights were won and lost accordingly (anyone with Raven on their team seemed to win, since she could throw the snowballs without moving an inch), forts were built with agonizing care that took long minutes of their time, and ended up being destroyed in about three seconds when one of them fell on it. Persuaded by Starfire, the five of them made snow angels, lying on their backs and giggling like little kids as they moved their arms back and forth in the white powder. An odd family of snowmen stood in one corner, each Titan having created one. Starfire's seemed to have too many heads and arms, Beast Boy had decided that building an animal would be easier, but upon not being able to decide precisely _which_ animal to build, he meshed quite a few together. Raven's seemed too perfect to be real, having used her powers to sculpt in detail, Cyborg's was disproportionate, and Robin's (of course) had a birdarang in each hand.

There seemed an endless array of games that they could play using the snow, and none, not even Raven, were tiring of it. Her face did seem to be set in a permanent frown, but it may just have been frozen there by the icy wind that blew across the top of the tower frequently. Screams and laughter dissolved into the winter sky, and happiness glowed in an aura around the tower, growing with each minute that they stayed outside. The criminals, it seemed, were being kind to them; they decided not to involve themselves in any criminal activity for the day, leaving the teenagers free to romp in the snow as they wished.

More snowflakes began to gently drift down from the gray-white sky, landing softly in the already accumulated piles around them. Starfire found them to be fascinating. Her face had lit up when she discovered how delicate and detailed each was, and she was interested in the fact that each snowflake was unique. The girl thought that she liked the idea; each one being different, yet beautiful in its own way. It was a nice thought.

Starfire paused where she was kneeling to fix the base of her snowman and tilted her head up, red hair cascading down her back. She opened her mouth and closed her eyes, hoping to catch one of the delicate fallers on her tongue. The alien didn't move, even when there was a resounding smack as a snowball beaned her directly in the center of her back. She winced slightly, but nothing more. Only the shout of, "Argh, Star, are you okay?!" woke her out of her contented daze.

She blinked her bottle green eyes and looked around, noticing Beast Boy's brow furrowed in worry. She smiled at him and nodded her head easily. "I am the o and k," she told him cheerily, standing up and brushing any excess snow off of her knees. Glancing up while she did this, Starfire also took in the other three occupying themselves. Raven was also taking in the snowflakes that were descending again. Her eyebrows drew together almost imperceptibly, and her fingers tightened around the puffy blue jacket that she had been forced into ("It's either this or nuthin', Rae," Cyborg had cheerfully informed her.), pulling it closer.

"Snowing again?" her tone showed exactly what she thought of that. Starfire grinned, knowing that her friend would much rather be inside by a warm fire drinking tea or hot chocolate and merely _watching_ more snow fall.

Beast Boy laughed, packing another snowball together as he did so. "Come on Rae, we've only been out here for an hour or two! Let's have a little more time for fun before we go back inside. Or is 'fun' a foreign word to you?" his green eyes twinkled merrily as he said this. The changeling was so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn't notice the glare that the empath sent flying his way.

Robin had been scrutinizing Raven for the past few moments, watching as she shuffled on her feet and ducked her head back into her hood. He narrowed his eyes, amused, and asked, "Raven… you don't want to go back inside just because you're cold, do you?" he grinned at her reaction, which was to whip her head around in his direction, violet eyes connecting with his and huffing. However much she tried to show that she was perfectly alright, her pink cheeks and nose gave her away.

"Ah, don't worry, we can fix that," Cyborg assured her, pacing forwards a few steps. In response, Raven took some backwards, trepidation clearly showing on her face. "No worries, girl, we've got it covered."

It was as though he had shouted, "Titans, go!" Using skills honed in years of battle, the three boys leaped onto the empath with a yell, who went down with nothing more than a muffled thump. Material flew everywhere and laughter once again rebounded in the open space. It only took a few minutes of coordination between the boys, for when Raven emerged she was buried beneath extra scarves, gloves and hats. The boys were grinning like mad, amazed that they had been able to achieve this without Raven immediately sending them to another dimension and leaving them there to rot. Starfire was slightly shocked too, but she less so; the alien noticed how the snow seemed to loosen everyone up. Even Raven the empath wasn't immune to the powerful effects of a real winter snow.

Robin chuckled, "Now try to ruin our fun." When a surprised glance came from his friend, he simply stuck out his tongue at her. Yup. The snow was affecting everyone.

Starfire watched all this with a smile on her face and laughter in her voice, but it didn't reach her eyes. She studied her usual ensemble and sighed silently. Starfire didn't get cold. It was a fact of life, and she couldn't do anything about it. But as she watched those displays of affections from her brothers, she wondered, and she wanted. She took in all of it; the fact that Raven still shivered slightly, buried underneath all the clothes. The fact that Robin noticed this and threw an arm around her for her comfort. The fact that Beast Boy, not wanting to be left out, nearly tackle-hugged Raven back onto the ground.

She saw all this, and she bit her lip. She did not get cold but… but, sometimes, Starfire wished that she _could_.

--

**Author's Notes:**

Still on my Starfire kick, but I have a feeling that it'll be out of my system pretty soon. I've have my bout of Starfire, who's up next? This probably isn't my best work, but I really, really liked the idea, and I wanted to write it out. It didn't turn out the way I expected, but these things never do. I just hope that you guys enjoyed reading it! And... is it just me, or do I have a "C" fetish? Coloring, Caught, Cold... O.o

Now, drop a review my fellow TT fans! Please?


	4. Words

And here we go again. Not a C this time- a W! Exciting, isn't it? No, you don't think so? Well, can't say I blame you. And again, I want you to all go give _Seraephina _a clap on the back for being awesome and looking at this to make sure it was postable. Isn't she awesome?

**Disclaimer: **You would have to be a genius to have created and own the Titans... I am not a genius. D:

--

**5. Words**

Robin groaned and put his head in his hands. There was absolutely no way that he was ever going to be able to figure this out. Next to him, Raven seemed to be faring no better.

Tamaranian was unlike any language that he had ever attempted to learn before. He had thought that German had been hell until they had decided to try and learn a language that was not from this planet. Or even this solar system.

Raven was having trouble too. She explained to him that she had been working under the assumption that you basically did everything the exact opposite of Azarathean, since that was how it had seemed to work in the beginning. Once they had advanced, she had been getting everything so horrendously wrong that she had been forced to abandon that thought. That had left her confused and unable to do anything without immediately correcting herself. She still mostly floundered, attached as she was to her Azarathean linguistic skills.

Beast Boy would be doing well if his attention span wasn't so short. He seemed to have a knack for it, which Raven, disgruntled that the green changeling was doing better than she, attributed to the fact that Tamaranian made no logical sense at all, and neither did Beast Boy's thoughts. But he couldn't focus long enough to hear anything that would allow him to actually learn something.

Cyborg was doing the best out of all of them. Robin suspected that this had to do with his mechanical memory, which would allow him to store and call things up whenever he so wished. He memorized the things that he wanted to know easily, like the swear words, and the things he needed to know weren't much different. By now he was holding short conversations with Starfire, without her correcting him. The more he spoke, the faster he got. Morning conversations, being practically the same every day, were being performed quite rapidly, so that Robin couldn't understand what was being said. Starfire had informed him that it was actually pretty slow compared to how Tamaranians spoke on a regular basis. Robin couldn't imagine speaking faster than that.

Starfire was quite adept at English. She could speak it well in most situations without anyone being confused as to what she was saying. And despite the occasional misunderstanding between people (such as Starfire's use of phrases like 'I am the o and k'), which everyone had become used to now, there was nothing that they would complain about. However, there were times when Starfire was extremely upset and had problems expressing herself in English. She occasionally let loose a stream of rapid fire Tamaranian that no one could understand. These moments were trying for all, because no one was sure how much of an emergency it was, and whether or not Starfire needed immediate help.

She would get herself under control and be able to work through the English in her head, but sometimes it was too late, and it had cost them too many seconds already. It had been Robin who had initially come up with the idea that they all learn Tamaranian. Starfire had been touched that her friends would learn an entire language for her sake, and the others had been on board with the plan without any complaints.

Now, Robin was seriously regretting it. He was having problems simply wrapping his mind around the language. Tamaranian was ridiculously confusing for many reasons. For one thing, there didn't seem to be tenses in the same way that there was in English. There were _inflections_, but those seemed to change the tense sometimes, and at others seemed to change the words entirely. There were far too many exceptions to the rules for his liking.

Starfire smiled as though this wasn't one of the worst forms of torture in the world, and began to speak again. "Now we shall move onto titles. Let us take Raven as the first example. Raven is a female, so we would put a…"

"'_le_," supplied Cyborg easily.

Starfire nodded to him, "at the end of her name. However, Raven is younger than seventeen, so you must turn the _'le_ into a _'lea_. But I am speaking of Raven, so I cannot use _'lea_. This is because she is familiar to me, more so than _'lea_. I consider her my sister." A brief smile in Raven's direction, which the empath returned tightly. It probably would have been warmer if they hadn't been learning a language that meandered mindlessly. "That would be _xe'en_, her name and _'lea_ afterwards if she were blood related to me. She is not my real sister, so the _xe'en_ is a _ta'_ and the _'lea_ moves to the front, making the final result _ta''lea Raven_."

There was a blank stare from the girl who was the topic of discussion, who was trying to wrap her head around what Starfire had just said.

Beast Boy scrunched his nose up. "Would that make you _ta''lea Starfire_?" he tried hesitantly.

Starfire shook her head with a smile that was almost patronizing. "No. I am seventeen, so I would be _'le_. But I am also royalty on my home world, so I would be: _eta_ before my name, _Koriand'r_ as my full title and _ta''le_ afterwards, if you were my non-blood relatives."

"So… _eta Koriand'r ta''lea_?" Beast Boy asked again.

This time Starfire nodded and the boy grinned. "Alright!" he cheered.

"How familiar is familiar enough to use _ta'_?" queried Robin, scratching his head.

"And how do you know someone's age to address them?" Raven questioned.

Cyborg wasn't saying anything; he was too busy putting the information in his memory for use at a later time.

Starfire attempted to explain. "When someone introduces themselves to you they are going to use their title so you know. And if you would consider someone a part of your family, _ta'_ is used. It is a special bond, and therefore has its own title. Less familiar is the _'le_ variations, and strangers are _hal_ of some form. Of course, you only use titles when you are speaking about a person. When you are speaking _to _them you simply use their names unless you are not on familiar terms in which case only the _'le_ variations are used."

"But what if you aren't sure how familiar someone is?" pressed Raven agitatedly, after decided to ignore that complicated corollary.

Starfire frowned. "You should be sure."

Cyborg finally spoke, satisfied that he had the information down well enough as notes. "That's only for girls though, right? What about guys?"

The alien smiled as Robin and Raven glared in their friend's direction. "Very well, we will proceed to males. It is different in several ways…"

"Several ways." Robin hissed to the mechanical teen, narrowing his eyes furiously. "_Several ways!_"

A pen encased in black magic hurled itself at Cyborg's head.

--

**Author's Notes:**

That's probably going to be it for a few things: one, the super speedy updates that have been going on, like, every other day. And two, my Starfire kick. This one wasn't _as _Starfire flavored, but still. So, yeah. Hopefully I'll be able to get another one of these up soon, but you never know. I do have to focus on 'Pale Girls' which is a present to my beta _ScarlettInk_. Her birthday is in two weeks. Save me.

I'm not too big of a fan of this one either, but again, I like the idea of it, and it makes me laugh sometimes to imagine the Titans trying to learn Tamaranian. Enjoy, and drop me a review once you're done!


	5. Follower

Here's another one. This one is kind of different, I've never done something like this before. It also makes me sort of depressed, but I still like it. Argh. Why don't you just go and read it? (Need I mention the amazingness of _Seraephina's _beta skills again?)

**Disclaimer: **Read bellow to find out what would happen to the Titans if I owned them. You don't want that, do you?

--

**76. Follower**

The T still stood on the island in Jump City Bay. It was decrepit now. Old, unused. It was still standing tall and strong, but the feeling of emptiness made it hollow and vulnerable, as though a wind could blow across the water and knock it down. Lights didn't periodically flip on and off inside of it anymore, and there were no forms of teenagers running around the outside, maybe even flying, depending on who it was. No shouts of laughter or grunts of training came to the townspeople on the beaches; from the island to the mainland.

At first there had only been whispers, rumors that were squashed mercilessly by others who heard them. "Impossible!" they would say, shaking their heads and yet still keeping their voices low. "Don't say that! What if they hear you? What would they think?" And the rumors were hushed, and the people who started them sufficiently chastised. But the seeds of doubt were there, and the worries were planted. And every time the kids were out and about they would look, see the genuine happiness and contentment, and sigh with relief. Because they all knew that it would have to happen sometime, but that sometime was not now.

It was like that for years. Glorious years. The golden years. The laughter and the smiles, the protection and the bravery, the passion and the promise. Children slept soundly in their beds at night. Adults went about their business with one less thing on their mind. And the town settled into a sort of security, knowing that they always could count on their heroes when something happened that they couldn't control. Jump City blossomed. People moved there from nearby towns, hoping to get some of the safety that the citizens had. Everything was good. Everyone was happy.

Their Titans started growing up. The 'teen' would need to be discarded soon. The people who had seen the Titans from the beginning glowed with pride as they spoke about "their heroes" and how they were "all grown up". Like parents speak about their children. Like a proud mother brags about her son's achievements. Like a family the size of a city. The Titans grew up, and they were proud. They still protected, and they still kept their promise.

And yet… grow up and grow apart. There were whispers again. And this time they could not be stepped on as easily. Gossip spread like wildfire, and stories were emerging that people hadn't heard, or perhaps that they hadn't let themselves hear. They couldn't imagine anything worse than these stories, but they infiltrated all conversations, leaking through the cracks that had been left in the walls. Pretty soon, everyone knew what was going on in that T across the bay.

Did you hear that Robin and Raven got into a screaming fight the other day? Have you heard that Starfire has been thinking about returning to her home world? Did you know that Cyborg's technology is quickly becoming outdated, and there's no way for him to upgrade this time? Is it true that Beast Boy is considering joining another team where the members are more his age? Did you see the way that Robin wouldn't fight as a part of the team yesterday? I heard a rumor that Raven can't control her powers anymore, do you know if that's true? Did you really see Starfire leaving the tower crying?

After that everything began spiraling out of control so quickly that no one could really keep tabs on how it happened. They couldn't hide it anymore. The Titans were older now, and they had really come into their own. But they had come into their own _on _their own, and separate rooms were made into safe havens. When they fought crimes now, a bystander would notice how it seemed as though there were five separate battles going on simultaneously and next to each other. No more outings for pizza. No more lazy days in the park. No more happy bickering about which movie they were going to see this time.

"It's crumbling," was what they were saying now, no longer bothering to make sure that they whispered. "Their friendship and their team is tearing at the seams, and they aren't going to be able to fix it this time." After everything they've already been through? People would still hope, still want to believe. After all of that, this time they decide that they can't get through it together?

But maybe this time it was too big for anyone to fix. It was clear that the Titans wanted to mend it, and badly. They still wanted to be a team and stay together. However, it was obvious to anyone on the outside that they were going in circles, and they were never going to be able to find each other if they kept this up. Their grip was lost, and the hands slipped apart, and now they were in the graves that they had dug themselves, still desperately trying to find a way out.

Things were said that could not be unsaid, and no amount of apologizing would be able to take wash away. The more they chased after each other, the more they pushed each other away until there was a divide between them that was impossible to breach. It seemed that they had each gone after everyone else. Starfire followed Robin, Beast Boy followed Raven, and Cyborg tried to follow them all. The bonds were stretched to the limit, pulled and snapped. And one day, it was over.

In the end, they each followed each other out, and that was what finally made them give up; made them split and go their separate ways. They packed, they made an official announcement, and they left.

The tower still stands all by itself on a small island in the Jump City Bay; decrepit, old and unused.

--

**Author's Notes:**

There we have it. That's my interpretation of how that would happen. . I've got a bunch more ideas, and I have about three that I've gotta do for friends, for various reasons. I don't know how soon they'll be ready to post, so don't hold your breath. Hm. I don't have anything to say for once... (and they shout, "Hallelujah!") Just review once you're done with this, okay? As always, and like everyone else, I want to know what you think!


	6. Difference

Whoo, an update! This is an idea that I've had for a long time, but I had no idea where to put it. So! It's a present for you, my lovely readers, one the ones who leave the reviews, and the ones who don't. Need I mentioned who betaed my awful grammar? You know who she is. ;)

**Disclaimer: **I'd like to own the Titans for Christmas...

--

**15. Difference**

Raven sat on the ledge of the tower, gently kicking her feet back and forth in a surprisingly childish gesture. Her large, violet eyes followed the speck in the sky that was Starfire, looping and zooming back and forth with almost too much energy to bear watching. The empath let her lips turn up in a smile as she watched her friend let off some steam. The two of them had been talking about nothing memorable on the roof when Raven had noticed that the alien seemed edgy and more fidgety than usual. With a small grin, she had sent Starfire off the ground, telling her that she would wait until she was done to continue their conversation.

There was a slam behind her as the door to the roof shut, and footsteps as the person walked closer. Raven didn't turn around; she had known who it was before the door shut the whole way, and her smile grew minutely. When he sat beside her, she turned slightly to face him, but made sure to still keep her gaze upon her zealous friend in the sky. Robin gave Raven a smile in return and swung his legs over the edge of the roof, so that he was sitting next to her. The two of them observed Starfire as she swooped through the sky, occasionally letting out a whoop of joy that she couldn't contain.

The chuckle escaped Robin's mouth. "She really has a lot of energy, doesn't she?" he asked, not really expecting an answer from his friend.

Raven's amethyst eyes danced and she nodded her head in agreement.

A slight frown marred her leader's peaceful expression as he contemplated something. "Star does this a lot, doesn't she?" Another rhetorical question. Raven sent a questioning glance at him sideways, wondering what he could be getting. "She needs to fly like that to let off some energy, or something, right?" Without waiting for confirmation from the empath he turned to face her, a sincere query in his words. "Rae, why don't you ever fly like that?"

The reaction from the girl was _not _what he was expecting _at all_. Robin had been thinking that she would roll her eyes at him, or give him a small smile and one of her extremely logical explanations (personally, he considered most of them excuses), or perhaps she wouldn't even answer him. All of those he had been prepared for, and would have known how to react if they had happened. However, Raven shocked him again.

It was almost explosive, the way she acted, compared to the emotion that she normally let show on her face. A thundercloud appeared over her expression as she turned completely to face him. "_I. Do. Not. Fly._" The words came hissing out through her clenched teeth, and flames roared behind her purple eyes. Robin stared at her, torn between cowering at the tone of her words and laughing at what exactly it was that she had said.

"W-what?" was what he was intelligently able to come up with.

Raven stood sharply, pulling her hood up to cover her face and glaring down at him. "Did I stutter?"

Finally gathering his wits about him, the masked boy stood up as well, needing the tiny height advantage that he had over his empathic teammate and crossed his arms. His face plainly showed that he was confused, though. "What do you mean you can't fly? You fly all the time! You fly to battle, you fly around the tower. You fly!"

"If you are assuming to correct me about what I can and can't do, Boy Blunder, you have another thing coming. I would thank you to remember that I know the capacity of my abilities, and _flying_ is not a skill that I possess!" Her growl was morphing into a snarl, and Robin was sure that if she didn't have more control now that Trigon was gone he would have found himself at the bottom of Jump City Bay right about now.

Robin, now thoroughly exasperated, threw his hands up in the air to tell her that he was utterly lost. "I don't know what you're talking about!" he snapped at her.

Raven let her head hang for a moment, violet hair framing her face and breathing deeply until she was sure that she wouldn't reach out and strangle her leader. Once this urge was swallowed the heroine looked back up. "Let's see if I can put this into words that you will understand," she informed him flatly, with no emotion at all, which showed just how furious she actually was. "Starfire flies. Tamaranians fly. I, however, cannot fly. I levitate. Our powers allow us to do these things, we do not make the choice." Her arms crossed defiantly at her chest while Robin scratched his head, trying to wrap his mind around the information that he had apparently been expected to know.

"But… they both look the same…"

The empath cut him off. "Have you ever noticed that when Starfire is in midair, she bobs up and down? This is because the ability to _fly _is meant to be in motion, and _levitation _is meant to be held still. When it comes to Starfire, she is most natural when she is flying to a destination, or simply moving in the air, as she is now." Raven gestured vaguely to the sky, where Robin noticed in the back of his mind that the alien was coming closer. "And I am at my most natural when keeping still in the air, like this." She demonstrated by lifting herself off of the rooftop a few inches and hanging there, still glaring daggers at him.

Robin realized that his mouth was slightly open, and he closed it with a snap. "Can't I just call them both flying?"

"No you can't!" Raven landed on her feet again with a thud.

"I don't understand what the problem is! Why are you so upset about this? All I did was ask you why you never fly like Starfire does!"

Something seemed to be sucked out of Raven as he said this, and she refused to meet his eyes. The girl seemed to be retreating into herself, and Robin had a feeling that he had stumbled upon something that he was never supposed to know; one of Raven's 'baring her soul for him to see' moments. He couldn't help it; he winced. He wanted to avoid more of those if he could help it, because the last time something like that had happened, Raven was meant to end the world.

Robin didn't like invading her thoughts either. Raven was a very private girl, and pushing her so far that you forced her to open up like this was not something that friends did. He watched her struggle with herself for a minute with a sinking feeling in his stomach. An internal battle was waging within him as well; he wanted to slap a hand over his friend's mouth, shake his head, cover his ears, tell her to shut up, anything so long as he wouldn't hear what she was about to tell him. Another part of him wanted to lean forwards eagerly, make sure that he didn't miss a word, ask Raven more probing questions, and satisfy his rising curiosity about just what was so strong to make Raven hate him mixing up levitating and flying.

This situation left his heart going in two directions and was causing a tugging pain in his chest. He clenched his fists, the raging debate in his head seeming to get nowhere. This was Raven, his friend Raven, and if he really was a good person he would do anything, even walk away, so that he wouldn't make her reveal this part of her that she obviously didn't want anyone to see. But it seemed like she was going to make the decision for him, for at that moment she took a deep breath and said, "Because."

He stared at her, unable to stop a smirk worming its way onto his face despite the grave thoughts he had been thinking just moments before. "… Because?"

The heroine glared at him, a spark back in her gaze. "I'm not finished. It's because… because I can't stand the thought that I can't fly. Because when Starfire flies, she displays her unbridled happiness for the whole world to see. That happiness that everyone loves in her, the one thing, the _one thing_," Her voice dropped to a whisper, and Robin unconsciously moved in closer, listening. "That I cannot show."

Robin was blown. He was completely out of his depth here. He had come out onto the roof to find Raven and Starfire, and sat down, hoping to maybe have a casual conversation with one of his friends. And what had started as him asking an innocent question had turned into him blundering his way into something that he wasn't sure how to get out of. He couldn't, in good conscience, tell Raven that her fear was stupid, or that she should just get over it, or even just leave the roof without saying anything. But what was there to say? Raven, I'm a kid who has no problems expressing emotions at all, so I have no idea what you're really going through, but I'm sure that I can empathize some way, hey, take my advice about this?

Yeah. Right.

"Raven…"

There must have been something in his voice, because she looked up at him, and once again, her eyes were blazing. The anger was back, and Robin found that he was relieved; it was much easier to deal with than those words of longing and jealousy. "I don't need your pity. Don't give me that. But I also don't need you reminding me that I'm not allowed to show what I'm really feeling, or I might unintentionally blow something up!"

"Friends, what is going on?"

The two birds turned to see Starfire gently touching down with a small frown marring her face. She must have heard them arguing before they had seen that she was there. Robin stared as though he couldn't really believe she was there. What was going on? He didn't really know. Raven had just revealed something to him that he had never even thought about, never considered how much it hurt her for him to be so off-hand about. Once again, however, Raven beat him to the punch.

"Robin here doesn't know the difference between levitating and flying."

To said boy's utter surprise, Starfire's face shadowed to, and she turned to him, yet still addressed Raven. "He does not know the difference?"

"He called with I do 'flying'." That pained straining was in her voice again, he Robin hated to hear it but not as much, apparently, as Starfire did, because her eyes began to glow green.

The alien princess opened and closed her fists repeatedly, but spoke in a very reasonable voice as she gave him some back story. "Do you recall the time when Raven and I switched our bodies?" She didn't wait for confirmation as she continued. "We were required to tell each other everything about ourselves. And Raven revealed to me something that she had not told anyone before; about how she wished dearly that she could fly as I do, since it is a representation of my emotions." Her gaze hardened here, in time with her voice. "Have you upset Raven?"

"Er…" how was he supposed to answer that? He did, but he really did mean to. He hadn't known! But Robin was a boy of sense, and he didn't want to negotiate with an extremely pissed off Tamaranian. When it came to Raven, as he had seen many times previously, the girl didn't tolerate any wrong-doing. Even unintentionally. He began to sweat as she advanced upon him with Raven behind her, and wondered if he could reach the door to the stairs before _they _could reach _him_.

--

**Author's Notes:**

Er... I'm drawing a blank. Oh, pimping time! Go vote in my poll! I guarantee that you'll have fun... or throw up a little bit in your mouth. Either way, go vote. You get a chance to tell me how crazy I am. :D You know you want to...

Read and review please, my friends!


	7. Jewelry

Another update so soon? I have, like, five of these ready to post after I make a few minor changes, so you'll be getting these pretty quickly... until I run out of steam and there will be a five month long hiatus before I update again. XD So enjoy it while it lasts, yeah? Thanks to _Seraephina_ again, for being cool and IMing me as we speak.

**Disclaimer:** Titans. Not mine. Yes.

--

**1. Jewelry**

"Oh, Beast Boy, it is glorious!"

The boy smiled shyly, hands behind his head in a nervous gesture that he had picked up when he was younger, and coughed slightly. "Yeah, well…"

Starfire held up the jewelry in her hands, letting the light surround it, and examining it from every angle that she could, an ecstatic expression on her face. Her green eyes took in everything about it, and missed nothing. The hemp was frayed and thin, and looked as though it might break in a moment, but it did not matter to her. On it, sea glass of every color imaginable glinted, smiling and waving back at her. The greens and blues were most prominent, but there were a few other shades winking delicately here and there. They were of all different sizes, and carefully chosen, it seemed, because they were rounded, and less likely to poke her with sharp edges. In the middle there was a small metal heart dangling easily, soft and smoothed and perfect.

The pads of Starfire's fingers slid up and down the stones, feeling out the unique grooves and bumps of the sea glass. She spun it quickly between two of her fingers before stopping suddenly, letting it sit quietly on the bed between the two of them. The alien princess glanced up at her friend, unable to express her joy with mere words. She took his hands, deciding to try anyways, because he needed to know exactly what his meant to her.

"I cannot believe that you have done this for me! It must have taken you much effort and time to make this!" she trailed off, still holding his hands, and gazing lovingly down at the bracelet that was waiting for her to wear it.

Beast Boy chuckled quietly, his embarrassment lessening as time went on, realizing that he was foolish to think that Starfire would make fun of him for doing something so sentimental. "It didn't take _that _much work…" he countered half-heartedly, pleased that his friend seemed to like it so much.

Another minute of silence passed where Starfire marveled at her new accessory, and Beast Boy marveled at the fact that he was still sitting on Starfire's bed, watching her enjoy his gift. It wasn't that he didn't want her to like it, but normally he would have hightailed it out of there as fast as possible to avoid any of the hugs or thanks for, heaven forbid, _laughs_ that would come from her. It was nice, to sit here and know that something he did was appreciated.

"Not that I do not enjoy this immensely…" Starfire began, causing Beast Boy to look up at her again. "But I am wondering- why did you do this for me?"

The boy pondered the answer to this question for quite a while. Why had he done this for her? He cared for her greatly, but she already knew that. He cared for all of the others too. And why for Starfire specifically? Why not Robin or Cyborg (okay, he knew the answer to that one)? Why not Raven? Why his indefinitely happy teammate from another planet?

The answers for those questions had to be there somewhere, but he just couldn't find them. He didn't really care that much either. He supposed that Starfire would have been least likely to throw it back in his face, or give him weird looks because of it. He also liked to make things with his hands, and hadn't since making that box for Terra. Perhaps he had wanted to try his hands at arts and crafts again? Sure, that could be part of it. But what else was there?

It didn't matter did it? No, not really. "I just wanted to do this for you, Star." was his final answer. It made him fidget uncomfortably as he said it, and he could have sworn that he felt his face heating up, but none of this seemed to matter to Starfire. Her green eyes went from politely puzzled to soft and grateful. She leaned over and grasped him in a tight hug which he returned, calming down immediately. It didn't matter that he didn't know what his motives were. All that mattered was that she liked it.

Once they broke apart, Beast Boy helped Starfire fasten the gift around her wrist, and she admired it again from this new angle, the smile never leaving her face.

--

It became a sort of nervous habit of his, along with putting his hands behind his head, to look her over quickly, to make sure that it was there. She had confided in him once that she never took it off, but he had to see it with his own eyes, had to make sure that she hadn't been lying to him and took it off when she thought that he wasn't looking. His green eyes, so different than hers, searched it out, and the constriction in his chest only loosened once he saw it hanging there.

--

_Starfire's thumbs moved in a sort of blur as she controlled her character in the video game, moving him back and forth across the field of battle before lunging in for a devastating kick. She crowed as his character went sprawling on his back. He hopped up again with a curse, and went after her with a renewed vigor. The two of them battled it out, groans and whoops being called in turn depending on who had the upper hand._

_Beast Boy growled and bent over his controller so that he was hunched almost double, fingers quivering with excitement. If he could only have the few seconds that he needed to complete this move, Starfire out be out of the game, and he would win the battle. And he couldn't lose to her, especially not since he had been playing for so many more years than she had. His tongue poked out of his mouth without his knowledge, and his brow furrowed in concentration._

_Starfire swung her arms in the air as she attempted to execute some ridiculous moves, a maniac glint in her eye as she did so. Beast Boy glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, alarmed and thinking that she might need some sort of assistance. As he did so, he caught sight of the sun shining dully off of a large piece of blue sea glass. His entire consciousness went slack for a moment as he registered it was there. A swelling feeling rose within him, and he smiled. That was, until Starfire rose into the air with joy and smirked at him, "I am victorious, Beast Boy!"_

"_Wha… how did that happen?!"_

_--_

"_Starfire, you can't do that! Just… just roll the dice."_

_Raven put her head in her hands as she watched the overenthusiastic alien chuck the dice halfway across the room. Cyborg chuckled as he went to look at what number she had rolled, and bring the dice back so that he could roll for his turn. Starfire grinned sheepishly and sat back on her hands, waiting for her friend to retrieve the dice and tell her how far she could move on the board._

_The three of them were playing Life, one of "the most fun games ever!" in Cyborg's humble opinion. Beast Boy was sitting on the couch watching them, as he had walked into the room in the middle of their game, and had been promised that he could play the next game. He laughed at every turn of bad luck that his friends encountered, and cheered them on as when they hit a winning streak. As Starfire reached across the board to move her car a few spaces forwards, the boy caught a glimpse of the silver heart hanging and moving back and forth as her hand did. _

_Beast Boy watched it move, transfixed, and wondered at how she seemed so comfortable with it, so natural. He would say that she had forgotten that it was there, but Starfire never forgot. Not when it came to things like that._

_--_

A constricted grunt escaped from Robin's mouth as Starfire hugged him tightly, beaming. "Glorious morning, Robin!" she cried joyfully, clasping her hands together as the perfect picture of innocence. Beast Boy couldn't help but smile at this, even as he recognized that the two were an item now. He knew that it would happen sometime, but the fact that both of them were aware of it now was weird; they were all used to Robin being so obtuse that he couldn't see what was right in front of him. It was incredible how long it had taken him to understand that Starfire was there, and that she had always been there.

In a more romantic way than the other three, of course.

The green changeling went to take another sip of his orange juice, still looking at Starfire. Her attitude towards Robin hadn't seemed to change, whereas his had changed dramatically. She still treated him as the friend that he would always be, but he felt a need to become 'The Boyfriend'. Something like that. Anyways, it made for an odd relationship, but the boy accepted it for what it was; perhaps they would settle into comfortable roles somewhere down the road.

He smiled into his cup of juice, took a small gulp, flicked his eyes up, and choked.

Where there was normally a sparkle of silver metal, where there was the duller glint of greens and blues on a smooth surface, where frayed ends met frayed ends and tied, where there was normally a sliding tinkle of noise, now there was… nothing.

Alarmed, Robin looked over at his younger friend. "Are you okay?" he asked, taking a few steps forward as Beast Boy continued to cough and splutter, his face steadily reddening. The boy tried to answer a few times, but was cut off by hacking fits.

Finally, he was able to squeeze out a few words, which were, "I feel sick." Beast Boy turned and scampered out of the room, refusing to stop or look at anything until he got there.

Once the sliding door shut behind him, he fell to his knees, still coughing, and hoping fervently that the roiling in his stomach would stop before he really did throw up. He took deep, shuddering breaths, attempting to steady his breathing and winced as another heave threatened to have him puke up the breakfast that he had just eaten. Closing his eyes and hoping the lightheadedness would dissipate, he couldn't get rid of the image of Starfire's bare wrist, one where he had gotten to used to seeing his handmade gift hanging from. How was it possible? Why had she taken it off?

He had _made _it for her. She wore it, she wore it, she wore it, and all of a sudden… she didn't? No, no, it was impossible. It couldn't be real.

Sure, Beast Boy had known that Robin and Starfire were dating now. You couldn't have eyes in your head and not notice that. He had been happy for them. Smiling, laughing, cheering on their blundering way into boyfriend/girlfriend status. He was happy for them. He was! But for some reason it had never occurred to him that maybe once she was in a real relationship with someone, she wouldn't want to have anything that would make it look like she was romantically attached to anyone else. And he hadn't meant it that way, he really hadn't…

He hadn't, right?

Beast Boy clutched his head with trembling hands, feeling as though his world had been turned upside down, and all of a sudden, he was hanging from the ceiling. It wasn't like Starfire was shunning him as a friend, as she had greeted him most cheerfully only moments before she had spoken to Robin. He didn't really understand why there was a giant hole in his heart now. He didn't understand why he felt sick at the very thought of this. He didn't understand why it _hurt _so much.

And he definitely didn't understand why there was a prickling sensation at the corners of his eyes.

--

**Author's Notes:**

So, I'm slowly but steadily working my way through the oneshots and stuff that need to get done. I really want to work on chaptered story ideas that I have, but it's really hard to get motivation for those... you might have to wait a while. My beta is also taking a break. Pretty sure that her computer is freaking out on her right now, and I don't know how long that is going to last.

About this specific drabble? Yes, it is purposefully ambiguous so that you can decide if Beast Boy is just hurt that Star took it off, because it was a symbol of his friendship, or if he liked her, and thought that maybe they could have had something, or whatever. It's your choice. Don't you just love it when that happens? I do.

Read and review, please, lovely people out there. :D


	8. Mechanical

Another one. I like this one, and I hope you guys do too, but I won't know unless I stop talking and let you get on with the reading and reviewing, am I right? Of course I am. :D

**Disclaimer: **The closest I've ever come to owning the Titans is in my dreams.

--

**79. Mechanical**

There was something about them that was unsettling, she decided finally, sitting at the counter eating ice cream one day, and watching the rest of the team shrewdly, through sky blue eyes. As she picked out the nut toppings and ate them separately, letting the main portion of the dish melt in the bowl, she observed what they did with an interest that she didn't know she possessed. They had always been interesting to her, as heroes such as she, but well known and doing good without causing destruction at the same time. A few times she had thought, 'I could do that, couldn't I?' but it had been a mere dream, a wish that wasn't ever going to come true.

And one day she was in their territory. It had just happened, and she had shown them what she could do with the earth without them needing to save her. That just happened as well. They were warm and welcoming and accepting, and all of a sudden she was part of their team. The Teen Titans. She was a Teen Titan. It was too much to bear, and more that she could have ever hoped for all at the same time. It was wonderful.

But now, as Terra looked at them through her cornflower yellow hair that refused to stay behind her ears, she realized that there was so much more to them than their images, their immovable hero statuses. They were real kids, and they had their problems too. She wasn't the only one out of them who had issues that needed to be fixed. Raven was moody, Robin was obsessive compulsive about all the clocks being the exact same time in the tower, Starfire had a rather nasty habit of leaving her Tamaranian thorns which she used as feet massagers on the floor and Beast Boy couldn't seem to see her without freaking out. Which was odd in its own right.

That wasn't all though. Besides the fact that they all had some habits that needed to be kicked or they would eventually drive each other completely insane, they didn't seem to be normal people. Well, duh, Terra told herself, grimacing immediately after thinking that. Of _course _they aren't normal people!

However, she hadn't meant it like that. They weren't spontaneous. They never… acted on a whim. They always thought things out, always were the same no matter what sort of situation they were in. And although they seemed to be able to _adapt_ when need be, they never seemed to change. It made her want to fidget when she thought about it. Terra tried to never do the same thing more than once. It was part of the reason that she always moved around before joining the Titans. She didn't want to get the fame and the renown, and she didn't want to stay there and defeat the same villain twice. After she had done it once, let someone else deal with it. There were more things out there, different things for her to try and pursue. She didn't need to do something so much that it became boring.

Nine in the morning, breakfast. Eleven every day except Thursdays (which were apparently some sort of special meditation day for Raven) and Saturdays, which the team had convinced Robin would be a day to relax, was training outside in the course and inside in the gym. One in the afternoon, it was lunch, where they inhaled food like it was going out of style. The afternoon normally had some attack or other, but when it didn't they had their routines; Robin shut himself up with work. Starfire's routine was… to not have a routine? She liked to hang out with her friends, and Silkie. But that was predictable. Food and video games. It was like… clockwork. That's what they were like. Clockwork. On the hour every hour.

Her new friends, they didn't seem to mind the familiarity. They liked knowing what was coming; it made them feel comfortable and safe. It made Terra feel trapped and too small for the space she was in, hoping to smash her fists against one of the walls and break out, smell the fresh air, see the blue sky, know that something _un_known was just around the bend. It would be wonderful, brilliant, lovely. But she couldn't open that box, and her fists were now bleeding from the effort.

Every morning was the same. When she got there, Robin and Raven were already up, doing their own thing in their own corners. The others would come stumbling in sometime later, and a predictable fight would ensue over what breakfast to make, but Beast Boy would always be the one to start it. Starfire gave everyone hugs and gushed about how 'glorious' and 'magnificent' the day would most certainly be. And Terra? Well, one day she came in wearing no PJ bottoms and a very long sleep shirt. Another time she didn't come to breakfast at all, but woke up at two in the afternoon and gorged herself on Starfire's pudding. And yet another time she stayed up all night, and was found staring with wide eyes at a spot on the wall when Robin came down the next morning.

She wasn't the only one, though, it seemed. One of them, he didn't have a set of things 'to do' as the other seemed to, every day. Or, if he did, he changed them daily, because she saw him never trying to do the same thing twice as well. He liked to do things with all members of the team, and he made time for himself as well. It was, all in all, extremely different from the rest, and Terra found herself watching him the most.

Cyborg was too interesting _not _to watch. At first, before she had really settled in, she had tended to keep just a little bit to herself. All the girl did was observe, and see whether or not she could fit in. Her eyes were irresistibly drawn to the oldest Titan, who was the one that the least amount of people looked at, according to the papers and tabloids. Terra had snatched one up during her first week and was at first sent into hysterical laughter about the crazy rumors that were flying around about the team. Most of them centered around relationships, and any combination of Starfire, Robin, Raven and Beast Boy that they could come up with.

But no Cyborg. They couldn't really find much to say about him, so they ignored him. It made her angry and grateful at the same time, because she couldn't bear to see her wonderful teammate degraded by their false words. He had done nothing to deserve it, and the metal man got enough from those people who called him a 'freak' behind his back for the machines that saved his life. Terra cut up the tabloid and threw it away. She never picked another one up again.

He was sensitive and soft, but loud and outgoing when need be. He was the perfect mediator for the rest of them, old enough to take care of them, but young enough to have fun with them. He genuinely worried for all of their safety, and he watched out for them as best he could, still managing to protect himself even as his attention was scattered in five different directions. He was quite admirable, and Terra couldn't help but smile every time she saw him. He had that effect on her.

There were things that she noticed about him. One day, Terra had stumbled in on the boy sitting on the floor alone playing with Silkie, and using that baby voice that one used when talking to pets. He was tickling the worm's belly and laughing when it made strange noises that she supposed were meant to be its sort of contented purring. Terra peeked around the door with wide eyes and soft rustles, standing there and watching for minutes. It fascinated her, and she didn't leave until she heard steel toed boots clunking down the hallway.

Sometime later, Terra had been on the roof, bumping the volleyball by herself as the others had a movie marathon as they did every Friday night. They had invited her of course, but sci-fi just wasn't her type of flick. After assuring them all that she was okay, and telling Beast Boy that he should stay and watch if he really wanted to (what was up with him? It was like he was following her everywhere—it was weird), she headed up to the roof and grabbed a volleyball, practicing her skills so that next time they played she wouldn't want to dive off of the tower into the ocean bellow to hide from the shame.

All of a sudden there was another pair of arms playing with her, bumping and setting back and forth. Eventually, the two began to play over the net, and Cyborg taught her how to spike it, and get enough height to do so without hitting the net. She was nowhere near as good as he was, but she was definitely improving. It had been one of the most fun evenings of Terra's life. And when later, while they were drinking water, she had asked him why he hadn't stayed to watch the movies, he had smiled and told her that none of the Titans were ever meant to be alone.

Cheesy, yes, but at that moment, it warmed her from the inside, and she kept those words close to her heart.

The next week, they had defeated the Hive Five in a long battle that had consisted of the five villainous teens using a new weapon to create some sort of force fields around the Titans so they couldn't move. Terra had become so exasperated by this that she ripped up a huge chunk of the street and bashed it through the shields, pinning all five of the Hive to the wall at the same time. It had been easy to turn them over to the Jump City police after that. Beast Boy had suggested that they go home for a board game in celebration, and most quickly agreed. Cyborg, however, grabbed Terra's shoulder to prevent her from following them back into the car and tossed the keys to Robin, telling them that they would catch up with them later.

Throwing quizzical looks at Cyborg, Terra had walked with him down the street in silence. He seemed to be quite pensive and she didn't want to break his silence, so they simply strolled away together, oblivious to the thankful expressions being cast their way by the citizens who had been caught in the middle of their fight.

The two of them entered a café that regularly gave them free food for saving their city. They sat down at a booth and began to talk about the battle they had just had. Terra was bewildered, but she followed his lead, and soon they were deeply engaged in a conversation about what had just happened, and how everyone had done. Cyborg was praising her profusely; it had been her first big save, and she was quite proud of it, actually. The others had congratulated her as well, but not like this. The older teen ordered a large sundae for her, and grinned at her confused look. "What, surprised that someone is proud of you?" She didn't know.

While she was eating, Cyborg also informed Terra about some mistakes that she had made that he had noticed during the battle. He specifically told her what went wrong, and then they went about attempting to formulate plans on how they could prevent it from happening again. It was quite enjoyable. Cyborg knew how to balance the criticism and the praise so that she didn't get a big head, but she was completely crushed by all the critiques. They returned to the tower long after the other four had finished their board game.

A few days after that the all of them except Cyborg were sitting in the control room, just lounging around on a lazy Saturday. Terra was painting her nails with Starfire and Raven. They had convinced the latter by assuring her that she could do a black, blue and purple pattern. Starfire was using a soft red color that matched her hair, and Terra was going for her usual crazy mix; greens, sparkly silver, and confetti glitter. They were chatting as their toes dried, comparing paint jobs when Cyborg came into the room, having just finished up fixing the T-car. He leaned down to talk with Raven quietly, telling her that he didn't want to interrupt their 'girl time' to have her help him. He gave her a very small smile, and he patted her on the back, which was surprising, knowing Raven's dislike of physical contact.

He then moved over to Starfire, patting her on the head, as she was adding the finishing touches to her nails, and finished with Terra. She smiled up at him and he grinned back. Suddenly she was in the air and his arms were around her, hugging her tightly. "Hello!" he called brightly at her.

Terra found that her arms were reaching as far around him as they could, and she was hugging him back as hard as she could, a bright twinkle in her blue eyes. "Hello yourself!" she giggled, swinging her legs back and forth and marveling at the hero's strength.

It was the first time he had ever hugged her, and she hadn't been expecting it at all. The way he seemed to always know what she was thinking, and how it never stopped him from doing what he wanted anyways. As their arms stayed wrapped around each other Terra smiled and rested her head on his shoulder before grinning and flicking him in the head. Cyborg grunted with surprise, then chuckled as he flicked her back, easily using his remaining arm to keep holding her up.

And that was when Terra decided that Cyborg was the least mechanical of them all.

--

**Author's Notes:**

So... this was my first time ever writing Terra. And I want to hear opinions about how I did. Honestly. I've got plans with Val for writing a thing with Terra, and I've got to know how to write her correctly. I'd love to hear it if I've done it right, but don't be afraid to say something if I've done it wrong. Capiche? Wonderful.

Aha, now I must go have fun with _Seraephina _(who, by the way, gave this a once over), since we're going to be doing something extremely entertaining this afternoon. Seriously. Yeah.

Read and review, please!


	9. Hurt

Whoo, another update! This one has been festering in my brain for a while, I'll admit. I like it though. It makes me happy, especially since I get to cause another character pain. Mwahahahaha!

**Disclaimer: **Er... I don't own that Titans. Yeah.

--

**43. Hurt**

"Burn it, Kor,"

"No… I cannot!"

"Burn it, Kori!"

Kori took a hesitant step forward towards the steel barrel with flames flickering inside of it. The two young women were standing in a park that was across from Kori's apartment. Normally Kori would be the one looking out the window and cringing, thinking about how absolutely creepy the people hanging around the trees at nine at night were, but now she was one of them. The thought almost made her laugh; anything to get her mind off of what had just happened, and what Rachel was trying to help her through.

Once her best friend had rushed over to give hugs and make root beer floats and eat chocolate with her, they had begun clearing out everything that reminded her of him. They shoved bars of Dove's dark chocolate in their mouths and threw clothes, pictures, movie stubs and papers which stated, in Kori's handwriting, "Roy and Kori forever!", in boxes. With Kori's tear stained face and Rachel's murderous one, they trundled down the stairs and across the street, not minding the stares that passersby gave them. It caused them a few minutes amusement when Rachel found an empty steel drum in a trash heap and rolled it over. They piled it halfway up with leaves and branches found on the ground, and then Kori borrowed Rachel's lighter to set the pile aflame.

Kori clutched a photograph in her hands tightly, unwilling to let it go. Fingers trembling ever so slightly, Kori raised the picture to eye level. A young redhead grinned back at her, flashing his best smile for the camera. Rachel's dark orbs were as angry as they had ever been. She stood on the other side of the barrel, and had nearly resigned herself to marching over and burning the piece of crap herself when Kori suddenly and violently ripped the picture in two.

"That is for leaving your coffee mugs on the counter." She whispered almost too softly to be heard.

The halves were ripped into fourths. "That is for when you forgot to call."

Rachel stood by silently, letting her friend release the pent up tension that had been weighing heavily on her shoulders.

"That is for making me worry."

"That is for leaving your clothes in my apartment."

"That is for making me cry."

"That is for letting everything go."

"That is for leaving your smell on my sheets."

Kori was shaking with emotion now. Her hands were trembling so hard that it was hard for her to even hold the pieces in her fingers. She took a deep breath before continuing, as though steadying herself for what she was about to say next, as she tossed the scraps of photo onto the hungry flames.

"That is for leaving without saying goodbye."

As she watched the fire eat the last of her physical memories, she found that she did not feel better. She did not feel free from him and his presence.

Kori sank to the ground, shaking with sobs. Rachel's arms hastily encircled her from behind in a desperate attempt to console her best friend, and Kori cried over him once more.

--

**Author's Notes:**

Uh... yeah? This is my first StarSpeedy ever. Sadly. Hopefully the next time I write them they'll be slightly happier and stuff. (And no, this isn't just a side ship for me because I like RobRae. I hate it when people do that! Some people are allowed to end up alone, you know... but seriously, I actually like these guys together.). Happier StarSpeedy, yay!

Okay, hope you enjoyed. Read and review. Stay happy, healthy... (ugh, there is a terrifying local commercial on TV, and it's scaring me. How could they honestly think they would sell anything with a commercial like that?)


	10. Taken

Hello, people! I'm in a very good mood, and that would be because it is a Friday! I'm going to see Eagle Eye tonight, and them going to hang out with a few of my friends. It's going to be fun, and I'm going to ignore the AP Bio studying and all the homework that I have to do until tomorrow or Sunday. Sounds like a plan, right? Thank you _Seraephina _for looking this over. (Haven't talked to you in a while... D:)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Titans, I simply use them and manipulate them to my own evil will. :D

--

**78. Taken**

Wally was an awkward kid. No doubt about that. Somehow he managed to sweet-talk his way out of everything anyhow, using his heart-melting grin and quite a bit of harmless flirting.

Mostly harmless, at least.

Those sorts of things had never worked on Rachel. She was extremely down to earth and stubbornly refused to be wooed by any number of waggling eyebrows.

And yet, somehow, Wally managed to worm his way into her heart.

She wasn't exactly positive about how it happened. Rachel had met him, and he hadn't left her alone. It seemed that he had taken it upon himself to get her to open up, talk to him, laugh. He wanted to see her smile freely, and not worry about anything. He wanted to see the worry lines in her face be ironed out and wanted, when she slept in his bed because she couldn't sleep in her own, her to have a peaceful refuge when she closed her eyes.

And to do this, he used any manner of methods to achieve the goal. He would accidentally knock into her, spilling her books out of her hands. He would corner her by her locker and advance upon her with a worrying gleam in his eyes. He would make jokes, laugh, smile, tease, flirt without success, buy her ice cream (after watching her, he knew that her favorite was the double chocolate chunk). Through it all, Rachel pretended to be indifferent, that she didn't actually care about what he was doing or saying.

And yet, somehow, someway, it got through to her. Through her walls and her defenses, through the barbed wire fence and the iron-wrought gates defended by menacing figures. He sped past them, like lightning, and reached the locked chest that was her heart. He picked the lock, and stole a piece of it; he took a piece of her while she wasn't looking. When Rachel finally realized this, she was at once furious and impressed. The very next day she found him and sat next to him in front of the school, not saying anything.

Wally got the message.

And from there a friendship bloomed. Rachel focused him and helped him divert all his energy and enthusiasm into productive channels. Wally helped her to loosen up, and regain back some of the youth that she had lost so young in life. But throughout all of this, Rachel had more than her fair share of encounters with the awkwardness that was Wally. It was always following close behind him, although he never seemed to see it.

He liked to show up to school wearing only a robe, and laughed loudly at the hesitant questions of whether or not there was anything underneath it. His inability to _not _flirt with girls he came across grated on Rachel's nerves. His offhand comments about how any running exercises in gym were so easy that he couldn't understand how anyone wouldn't be able to pass with flying colors tended to make everyone around him uncomfortable. One time he had begun to change into his gym clothes in the middle of the hallway, stating that the locker room smelled too bad to be in there for any length of time.

More often than not, Rachel was integrated into this somehow. People would walk up to her and immediately associate her with the awkward boy that made everyone laugh. And although she loved Wally dearly, she had no desire to always be "the girl who hangs out with the funny kid". This questionably fortunate friendship also led to her being the butt of some of his jokes, or god forbid, good intentions. But it was even worse when it was someone else.

"Wally, I refuse to let you make Jenny into one of your projects." Rachel told him firmly, sitting cross-legged on the swivel chair in front of her desk which had a couple of lit candles burning quietly on it. Her cell phone was lying in the middle of them, on speaker, and the center of her attention at the moment. The girl had snapped at her friend when he had called, interrupting her meditation session, but that never stopped him from plowing right on and saying what he wanted to say. And what he had wanted to say this time made Rachel rather distraught.

"But my projects always bring people love and joy and happiness and fluff and all manner of good things!" came the muffled protesting from Wally's end of the phone. Water was running somewhere in the background as a light tinkling noise.

Rachel frowned. "Liar. The only good that has ever come out of any of your projects was…" she trailed off, averting her eyes even though Wally couldn't see her.

She could hear his grin as the water stopped running. "Go on… say it!"

The girl winced slightly, but complied. "Was… me, but I'm the only one! Do you remember what happened to Kori? Or what about that time you decided that Dick shouldn't be quite so obsessed with being per-" she hurried to defend her argument with a list of past failures when she heard water rushing down in a sucking, flushing noise, and all of the color drained out of her face like someone had just pulled a plug.

"Wally—Wally did you just _go to the bathroom_?!"

There was a light snigger from her friend and he began, "Yeah, but what does that matter?"

"I'm not talking to you anymore."

A surprised pause. "No, wait, Rae-"

"No, you're on your own."

"Come on, I really had to go, and-!"

"I'm hanging up now!"

Rachel stared at hard the cell phone that she had just flipped shut. She knew that she would be getting a call from him in a minute or two, but she couldn't decide whether she was actually going to pick up or not. She wouldn't be able to hide from him forever. And, really, she should be used to this sort of thing.

It was all the special brand of awkward, made just for Wally.

--

**Author's Notes:**

AU? Heh. This was actually quite fun to do. And, no, it wasn't meant to be a Kid Flash/Raven pairing, even though I do kind of like them together... -dodges rotten fruit- However, if Kid Flash/Raven floats your boat, then feel free to interpret it that way. I simply wanted to show a strong (and maybe funny) relationship between the two. Did I succeed?

Ah, and Jenny is Jinx. In case you didn't get that. Erm, Kori is Starfire, Dick is Robin... but you probably all knew that already. Just checking. Keep you on your toes. ;)

Read and review, my friends. As always, feedback is invaluable. :)


	11. Pants

Hey, guys, been a while, hasn't it? I hope you enjoy this, and that the waffle-ness of it makes up for the long wait. I've got more that I'm working on right now, I promise, but I also have some oneshots and stuff that I want to focus on, so I hope you can forgive me when those things come out. Um... thanks Phina, for being the beta again, and... vote in my poll? :D

**Disclaimer: **Erm, Titans ish not mine. ;)

-------

**4. Pants**

"Honey, I'm home!" cried Speedy, waltzing into the control room of the West Tower with a broad grin on his face. It jarred horribly with the white bandages wrapped around his head, hiding most of his fiery orange hair. He put a hand to it gently and winced, revealing just how much pain he must really have been in right then. He wouldn't let Bumblebee baby him anymore than he already was being, however, and it showed when he hitched the smile back onto his face. "Pamper me!"

The five Titans who had been waiting anxiously in the main room to greet him hurried up towards their friend (some hurrying slightly more than others).

"Speedy, we have been told that you are harmed! Are you feeling the o and k?" Starfire cried, landing more clumsily than she normally would have in her rush to examine the archer. He looked at her with soft eyes and nodded, determined to make sure that none of them had any reason to put him into forced bed rest, or any such ridiculous thing.

Beast Boy's green eyes were wide with a mixture of worry and fascination. "Dude…" He tried to use Starfire's shoulders to balance on as he jumped up to take a closer look at the hospital white bandages. "That must have _hurt_. But I bet you have some awesome scars now!" He paused, failing in hiding the grin that spread over his features. "Can I see?"

Speedy laughed. "I'm under strict orders not to do anything unless Doctor Raven tells me that I can." He leaned around Starfire, who was looking him up and down for any other injuries that they hadn't caught, making sure not to bump into Cyborg, who was behind him, scanning him with his arm. Raven's purple eyes twinkled from where she hung back a bit with Robin. Speedy shrugged at her. "Bee's making sure that I don't do anything until I'm 'completely healed'." He chuckled.

Raven put her hands on her hips in mock annoyance. "Bumblebee is quite right. Nothing strenuous for you any time soon. That head injury has to heal correctly." She narrowed her eyes. "So don't stress yourself, Speedy. That would mean bed rest in the infirmary."

The redhead winked at her. "Who me? I would never dream of it."

Robin smiled. "Right. Of course. Security cameras in his room, I'm thinking?" Raven nodded.

A playful frown appeared on Speedy's lips. "Well, look at you guys, all healthy and…" he trailed off, eyes wide, mask mirroring them. He had taken a real look at them just now, and what he saw sent him reeling, throwing a lot of what he knew about them out the window and forcing him to try and stumble his way into a new understanding. "I… what are you guys _wearing_? Raven!" He shook off the three Titans surrounding him, pacing towards the empath. "Whose _pants _are those?!"

Raven looked completely unfazed. "Robin's," she answered promptly.

The fact that she would freely admit this without a blush or even stuttering left Speedy's jaw hanging open. He stared at the civvies, which were far too big on her, and tried to remember if he had ever seen Robin wearing them. The pants hung off her hips, but not as much as he would have suspected: Robin _was _a ridiculously stick-like guy. The gray sweatpants had the words 'Jump City' written up the side of one of the legs. Robin probably wore them while working out… or… something… "But… _why_?"

The heroine rolled her eyes. "Because Mr. Leader's rigorous training schedule seems to have ruined half of my outfits, and the rest were torn up in battle, or they're dirty." She turned her gaze onto her leader, who had the good grace to look a bit sheepish. "I figured the least he could do for me was let me have some of his clothes to wear." Speedy opened his mouth to say something, but Raven held up her hand. "And no, before you ask, I don't feel uncomfortable at all wearing it." A gleam entered her eyes. "We do it all that time."

"We…?"

Starfire smiled, plucking the tan shorts that she was wearing, which seemed to engulf her legs. "Beast Boy has lent me his short bottoms for the day. They are most comfortable!" Beast Boy nodded vigorously from behind his friend, saying loudly that they were his favorite pair.

Speedy wasn't really listening; he was too busy taking in this sight and thinking about what Raven had said. "We do this all the time…?" he mumbled, trying to wrap his head around the idea of the Titans running around in each other's clothes and immediately regretting it once he saw an image of Beast Boy wearing one of Starfire's skirts.

"I've tried to stop 'em, but nothin' doin'." Cyborg muttered in his ear, making Speedy jump and remember that Cyborg was still scanning him for any signs of injury other than what they already knew.

"I…" the archer was about to reply disbelievingly, when he focused upon Robin, who was listening to the green changeling speak. "Robin!" he exclaimed, making all five of the others startle into looking at him. "What in the hell is that shirt?!"

The Boy Wonder looked down to be met with a smiling pony and a rainbow, tight enough to be a muscle shirt. "Oh…" he muttered quietly, holding it out. "I put one of Star's shirts on this morning because I was doing laundry and her pile was the first one that I came across." He shrugged nonchalantly, mask meeting mask as he looked up. "It was easiest."

Speedy gaped like a fish out of water before regaining voluntary control over himself, "So… Star…" the alien glanced up at him, green eyes soft and expectant. "Does that mean that I'll get to wear some of your shirts too? Why don't you show them to me? I'm sure you've got a wonderful selection in your room…" he grinned, flashing white teeth, "And then maybe you could wear one of mine?"

There was a harsh shove in his back, after which Cyborg apologized profusely, claiming that he had "slipped". Raven made a rather violent movement towards him before restraining herself, but was unable to hide the black tendrils of power that were creeping around her eyes and blazing in her eyes. Beast Boy's body went slack with shock and Robin's sharp threat began, his back rigid, but not before Speedy heard the giggle emit from the alien princess's mouth.

He was definitely going to _love_ his recovery time.

-------

**Author's Notes:**

This one was... well, I've had this idea for a while, but it's really morphed since I first thought of it. At first it was going to be "OMG drunk Titans because it was a party and HEY they're wearing each other's clothes!" but that didn't work out too well. I still liked the wearing each other's clothes idea, though, so it basically turned into this over time. I still like it, though. And the prompt was perfect. ^_^

Read and review, please!


	12. Fall

So, this is a new style for me. New style with an update. Ho hum. I hope you guys like it; Seraephina and I wrote our things together last night with a spurt of amazing inspiration, and we both came up with some pretty banging things, so I really hope you like this. This is the kind of style that I think I'm naturally moving towards, because I'm writing more in the present tense, more vaguely... but you should see for yourself. ^_^

**Disclaimer: **Um, no. Titans are not mine. No matter how much I wish they were.

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**37. Fall**

She was falling apart. Chipped nails and split ends. He had seen her false eyelashes peeling off as she cried, and he had watched the glitter run as sweat poured and he had seen the way she slumped after she was finished.

Fluttering lashes and cold grasping hands…

_He wanted—_

Blood ran in the streets and sometimes he would hop over it and see his reflection.

–_Pant, pant, jump—_

_Coward!_ It screamed. He ignored it as he went.

"I—" Her breath hitched and he stopped breathing and watched as her thin chest—

(Too thin, he sees, too thin.)

It rose up and down shallowly, and she blinked rapidly while she rolled over. She was wearing a bra, but a bra only. Sheets wrapped around her body as she tossed and turned, but he did not help her. Cold hands, cold hands, _always cold._

The tears were salty, and he realized that he was tasting them with his fingers. Just his fingers. They were searching, warm on her cheeks. Her breath ghosted shallowly across them as he wiped and traced and tasted.

In her sleep she cries, and…and _she wants—_

But now is not the time, now has never been the time, it is always tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. She has told him this as she brings the candles and they sit on the rotten floorboards and watch them flicker and burn because it is one of her wishes and he always abides by her wishes.

Snap, goes the incense as they each hold one. Snap, it says to them.

Snap, they reply, and suddenly they are holding two halves instead of a whole and she will start crying and say to him, "That is what it is like, that is what I know, now." And he believes her, but he won't tell her that because then he would be…that would be…well, he's not a coward.

Crying is hard. She will tell him that, tomorrow morning while they search for her shirt, the one with the forest on it. _It hurts my eyes._ She will tell him this, and he will not know how to answer because he never does know how to answer her observations, because they had always been that—always been observations—and they did not affect him.

But right now, it's only—he only—and tomorrow again they will go out dancing.

Hairspray, she says. I need more hairspray. It won't stay up unless I use hairspray.

It is familiar, it is casual and he knows this routine. It looks better down, he tells her, and she laughs and shrugs him away.

"What do you know?" she asks, smiling, and shoves him lightly in the arm.

"Nothing, apparently," he answers, and that is her cue to kiss him on the cheek. But it's more than that, it's so much more, because when she looks at him, when she sees him, it's through him, it's another him, and he isn't sure what he is supposed to do other than take her in his arms and hold her.

Hairspray, she reminds him with a laugh as he lets go, and he will sigh and follow her into the store where it _isn't_ just hairspray, it's the body glitter and the eyelashes and the makeup. And he will go back and sit with her on the floorboards and drag something else out, this time a tiny remote. "This is what you've bought today," he tells her.

Then he secludes himself and makes phone calls and she sits on the bed in her bra and underwear and stares at the photo album that she will not allow him to be rid of.

She grasps at his chest and he sucks in a breath at the cold, because it's always _so cold_, but what can they do? She is still sleeping while she does this and he tilts his head to the side. How many times has he stayed up late watched her sleep—

(Her ribs, her legs, the red hair that splays across the pillow, the bruised and swollen lips that she will not allow peace, she will not.)

Eating. She scoffs at it, unless he forces it into her mouth. Food. She asks why there is such a thing when it would be kinder to just…but she never finishes it because he is never listening to her when she says that, as her too small waist is appetizing and her tan has not disappeared over the years.

One day he will bring home a sweater. It will not be her birthday, and she will not know why he does it. When she asks all he will reply with is, "Green. Like your eyes." And she will put it on and get a candle, but this time it's a green one, one they have only ever used once. It burns like evergreens.

"Green," she will whisper. "Like my eyes."

More blood, but this time on a car. _Coward!_ his conscience screams. He ignores it again, because he can do nothing else. Cold, hard, unforgiving guns and crinkled dollar bills. Payment in dark alleyways, but it doesn't matter, he would have been blind anyways.

She knows. Sometimes he wants and sometimes he wishes, but she is above him and sometimes she reaches down and grabs his hand and pulls him up, but only sometimes. So he falls through those rotten floorboards…

(_"Can we ever fix these? I feel like we're going to collapse onto the floor below."_

"_I promised you I would. When have I ever broken a promise to you?"_)

But not only is he unreliable, he is a liar, and…and she refuses to allow him to pay bills even for the heat in the middle of the winter, because, because—

The gloves are gone. They shouldn't be, but they are she knows that it's him, she knows it, like she knows everything else.

You promised, _you promised_—

"He never would have done that!"

"I never promised to take his place."

Stuffy silences and rejection. There is only one bed, and since she isn't heartless they sleep together. She has a candle burning on the table and it soothes her. He tosses and turns, gets up earlier only to set the papers on the table on fire.

"Too lose is to be lost," is the wisdom that she imparts. She gets like that when she is relaxed, and he has just given her shoulders a massage, so she is comfortable and open. This is the time he decides to tell her, this is the time when he decides to say:

"I'm a hired hitman."

"To kill or to be killed."

"It pays well."

"I believe you."

Approval rating is zero, but how else do they buy the hairspray?

_The first night she came to him—_

_(But not really, because they were in contact somehow, always.)_

_She's crying, and she tells him, "He's gone." No words to say, because words aren't appropriate. "Where do I go?" she asks him, and he has no reply. He wants to take advantage of her. He wants to use her. He wants to have a knife and threaten her until she is too terrified to move._

_(But her eyes are green and her hair is red and her skin is tan and damn, she's pretty when she cries.)_

"_Inside," is what he said that night, and it was a mistake. _

_But they are used to mistakes._

His cache is hidden behind clothes and boxes in the closet because he can find no other place to keep it. Money is low and the gadgets are running out. How much longer will the powder be accepted? How much longer will they buy the equipment, the various X's from him? Stashes are being depleted and still he carries his gun.

I don't feel comfortable with you having a gun, she told him when she first stayed there, as soon as she knew that he had one.

His response was to go out and buy her one of her own, and since then she has been able to shoot the alarm clock across the street through both open windows.

"Villainy is wrong," was another one.

"Necessities must be taken care of." It is his excuse because on the inside it _hurts_ and he doesn't know how to express that to her, so he invites her into bed and they pass the time intertwining their limbs and heating up her cold, cold hands.

Running has never helped either of them, though, and when she appears through the bars of the cell she whispers, "That's the mask gone." He understands, but when he is let out and they go (home, he reminds himself, home) he yells and she yells and they go to a party.

He ran first, but she ran farther.

"He was always playing with my hair, at the end," she said, and he takes care to do this because it is what she wants, although he can tell that when she closes her eyes and sighs she is not feeling his hands there. They are tainted with the blood and they soak into her head and—she screams and screams at night, and he knows what she is screaming about.

Help comes in the form of daybreak and payment, and is taken away just as quickly, although they go out to a restaurant together. Normalcy is boring, though, and why should he want normal when he has raves and a beautiful girl who refuses to eat waiting for him?

She had bought the candles after being with him for a while. It's Tamaran all over again, she had said, and she had laughed and he had laughed and life had been great.

But the first time that he had found her using them she had been hysterical. "I—he never, and I never, and _she_—there were too many—how—how—how were we supposed to—to…" and she couldn't breathe and he had to lie on top of her, supporting himself on his forearms and just let it in…out…in…out…

There are now too many wax stains on his floor. But he isn't going to clean them, and neither is she.

(Together? Together. But whole? No, never whole…)

The moon on her back is pretty, gorgeous, gleaming, and he drags his fingers up across it, because she has rolled over again. The tears are gone, but he has left the eyelashes, the glitter; he has left what remained.

They smoked together. Her lungs were better than his and she inhaled and breathed it out her nose, like a pro. He coughed and hacked and his eyes watered so badly that he couldn't see her in front of him. He had wanted to try it again, but she refused, even though it had been easy, so simple—

_Like slitting someone's throat, or ambushing a defenseless civilian._

"He would not have liked that we did this." And that was that, because what she wanted was what she wanted.

"Cheers," he told her, and threw the pack into the street.

It was hard for her. It was hard for him too. Introducing her to the lifestyle that he lived was difficult, but she took to it like a natural; it was to take her mind off of _him_ for the most part. But no matter how badly her heart was broken she was still gorgeous, and they still slept in the same bed every night.

(Photo albums are for memories.)

She will wear the green sweater and sit on the floor in a pair of worn jeans. He will sit with her and a white candle will be burning. A small one. One that they have never used before. And this time, the first use of a candle will not bring tears to her eyes.

"Memories are to be shared, aren't they?"

She will smile and he will find that he agrees.

They will waste away an afternoon. He will ask questions. She will answer them. He will scoff, she will laugh and they will cuddle, and something will be repaired.

And then it will be broken.

_(Dirty, rusty knives and an entire group of people after him. Running, running, running, but even speed won't save him now. Yells, screams, and blood running everywhere. Dragging, panting, huffing breath—but they are not cowards—into his own house. His own bathtub._

_She is the one who will find him. She will shriek and call 9-1-1 and beg of him that he doesn't die, because he can't, and she never…she still didn't…)_

She will almost kill herself. The gun that he gave her to protect herself will almost be used in a way that he never intended.

He will never be aware of this, because when he wakes up in the hospital with stitches down his sides and on his head she will be there and she will be crying and smiling and he will remember that she had someone once.

Once, but not anymore.

"I thought…I thought that you were going to leave me…like him…" she will whisper, and he will wonder how a team of superheroes could have gone so wrong. Her red hair tickling his mouth will interrupt that thought, though, and it will not fully formulate before he realizes that he should be wiping away her tears, her tears that fall on his cheek.

Right now, however, he does not know any of that, sitting in their bed and watching her sleep, the moonlight painting an unsung picture on her skin. He does not realize how many tears she will shed because of him, and she does not realize that he is watching her, away in her dreams as she is.

Her heart beats too fast for someone who is sleeping. Her eyelashes flutter, the fake ones coming off even more. Her hands are still too cold—far too cold—but maybe they will remedy that somewhere in the future.

He resolves that he will force some soup down her throat the next morning. He tries not to think about how she is falling apart, and he is not given the option of thinking about how far she really will fall. He makes himself comfortable on the far side of the bed and closes his eyes.

He is planning an attack as he falls asleep. She rolls over once more, but meets his back and stays there, drawn to the warmth. The candle burns itself out on the table beside them. She dreams of _him_, as usual, and he dreams of nothing.

Their breathing becomes synchronized, but it is not on purpose. Nothing is ever—

In the morning she will be making breakfast of leftovers, still in her bra, and he will wake up to the smell of her cooking. But she will shed no tears over days gone by, and he will not feel the urge to wonder whether or not she really sees him right then.

They will be allowed to bask in that moment, for a time. For a time.

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**Author's Notes:**

If you have any questions, please ask me. I really want to know what you think. I like but, but I also wrote it, and I'm aware that you guys can't read my mind. Thanks Seraephina for betaing this with some stuff and thanks for reading, you guys! Hopefully you will review too, and tell me what you think. And who you think it is. XD


	13. Masquerade

So, this is the Speedy/Cheshire that Phina and I promised each other that we would post next. I love this couple, but now I understand why basically no one writes it: it's damn hard! D= Cheshire is... deep! And complicated! And... multi-faceted! Argh. It was annoying. But I also kind of like the outcome. XD

**Disclaimer: **Speedy and Cheshire wish I owned them, they'd get a lot more time together in the show!

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**3. Masquerade **

Nothing was ever fair, it seemed.

He knew that fair was an illusion, from experience. But why him? Why _them_?

There was no time for an answer, for a jaggedly cut knife whizzed past his ear, as he had barely had time to duck around it, and then avoid the long black hair that whipped around to meet him, pulled down with weights. The knife was surely poisoned, and the weights were undoubtedly heavy enough to kill him if she hit him at the right angle. She wasn't some petty criminal who robbed banks and held people hostage. She was an assassin, and she killed them—quietly, consistently, easily. It was what she did best.

He notched an arrow in his bow, but he knew that it was too late—too late, too late, too late, he chanted in his head, berating himself for allowing his mind to wander in the middle of a battle with such a dangerous opponent. _Stupid_, he hissed, bringing around his bow to face her futilely, _stupid._

When she stood, she didn't jut out a hip, or place her hands on her waist. She wasn't like any other girls he knew; she stood straight and tall, arms hanging down by her sides loosely, fists clenching and unclenching in preparation for something that wasn't going to come. Her feet were shoulder-width apart, and braced to withstand an impact or push her forwards in the blink of an eye. And on her face, a smile. She was always smiling at him.

She was always smiling at everyone.

"Did you get me?" He asked, narrowing his eyes behind his mask and holding his bow steady, so that if he let the arrow go it would, at this short distance, penetrate completely through her skull. She looked pointedly down at his feet, and then up above his head without saying a word. Being just as silent, he glanced down and saw to his dismay, although not his surprise, that the slim breathing space in the fabric of his shoes were pinned to the ground with daggers so deeply that he could not have moved another inch.

Wondering what trap she could have set for him in the trees, he glanced up, only to see her move out of the corner of his eyes. Even before his green eyes had time to widen, she was up against him, behind the bow that he was so studiously holding up, and pressing a straight-bladed, red dagger up against his neck. He would have been able to feel her breath on his skin, had she not been wearing a mask.

"Feeling lazy today?" He cheekily wondered, attempting to crane his head downwards without moving his neck so that the red dagger—

_Red like blood, red his costume, red like the color of the flowers that he—_

That train of thought was stopped before it could go any further. That wasn't anything that he was meant to be thinking about, even when he wasn't in a particularly life-threatening situation with a girl whose tactics could always catch him off guard absolutely ready to kill him. She nicked his skin with the edge, and he felt the smooth metal of the blade cutting through the delicate layers of skin, straying dangerously close to his jugular. He tried not to swallow, but the thought that he _mustn't_ made him need to even more.

With a sharp gesture, the masked girl managed to somehow point out that she wanted his belt. He knew this; he always knew this, they had been through this routine many times before. Although sometimes it was switched, and he was the one demanding her knives or her poisons, or anything else that he could get from her. With a strangled sigh, he awkwardly maneuvered his hands to reach his belt and unclipped it, allowing it to fall to the ground.

At the same moment that she could be sure he was going to follow her orders, she slipped out from in between his arms, taking the belt with her on one of her legs and flipping away. Her long metallic claws scraped down his chest as she went, and he could swear that he heard her say something, but then the long, silky black hair was spinning his way, and he heard rather than saw the clanking weights before they made contact with his skull. He dropped to the forest floor without another sound, his eyes rolling back in his head.

It was her chance. She stood there, fingering the belt that she had been after the entire time, which held much more information that she could have hoped to gain from anyone else. No one else would have hesitated to shoot her. Although she supposed that their morals would prevent them from killing someone; silly of them, she reflected, moving closer to him. She wouldn't have paused had the need for him to die arisen. She stooped over closer to his face and the growing bruise of many colors on the side of his head, with blood already beginning to clot around the wound.

It was her chance.

_They never removed the masks. Shirts were ripped and weapons broken, and sometimes they had nothing else on because they had been fighting for so long; so long that their intelligence and cunning had stripped them of everything but the masks. It was in no way sexual, but it was intimate. And yet, they never made any move to rid themselves or each other of the masks. It was something, some unspoken agreement between them._

'_Can you see me now?'_

_He forever had white eyes, and she?_

_She was always smiling._

She turned away. He wouldn't die; she had made sure of it when she hit him. There was no prickle of worry in her stomach, and nothing was beginning to sting at the corners of her eyes. There _wasn't_. She toyed with the belt that was in her hands and felt the grooves of where his own fingers moved over it, where he drew his weapons and his gadgets and the information that she would use to hack into the justice system and screw with things a bit.

Just for fun.

And maybe she would leave him those clues again. Those ones that he would only know. Highlight every third and twenty-seventh word because those are the days of his birthday and string them together in a sentence. Then, find the sixth and eighteenth words in the scrambled paragraphs because those were the days of her birthday. Read them. Figure out the code. What's her favorite country that they've both been to? Hint: they spent a week there during the summer…

She smiled to herself. A small one. A dangerous one. A bittersweet one. He would crack it, although who knew in how much time? And she would make it much, much more complicated than that simple piece. But it wouldn't matter; not really.

Because no matter how well they knew each other, they couldn't see each other.

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**Author's Notes:**

Erm. Yeah? Heh. It's complicated. And... interesting. But... yeah. Interesting. And complicated. Hrm. I just hope you guys enjoyed, and that you like this pairing as much as I do-- or that I might have made you think about it a little more. Please? :D


	14. End

Oof. Heya, everyone. ^_^ Birthday present of Seraephina because hey! She rocks, and I fail for missing her birthday. -_- I blame school, but that is really no excuse. So, happy birthday, Phina! Have some angst! =D

**Disclaimer: **Ahahaha. No.

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**33. End**

No, no, no, no, no…

"I can't see!" She shrieked, smashing her fists into her eyes as though that would make them open. "There's nothing, nothing!" Tendrils of black lashed out from underneath her cloak, through windows and mirrors, letting the glass fragments whip around the room, tearing pages out of books, overturning furniture and pounding dents into the metal walls of the building. It snaked through the room, leaving nothing untouched.

"Raven!" His voice was hoarse—because he's been through this before—and his arms were tired—too many nights of carrying her to safety—and he can't find the strength to shield himself. Ripped raw and run ragged, he struggles through the wind that her powers created, hoping against hope that somehow she will recognize him, somehow she will be able to calm down enough for him to figure something out.

_It had just been getting better, too._

"_My dad has insurance against me getting rid of him," Raven explained to him one evening as they sat on top of the tower, watching the sun go down in a flurry of polluted skies and bright colors. "When I was a baby, he anchored himself into my being. There was nothing that the monks could do to stop him other than helping me try to control my emotions and prevent him from taking over my body while I was on Azarath."_

"_I don't think I quite understand what you mean."_

"_What I mean is that if I get rid of my father, I get rid of my anger, because he __**is **__my anger. Getting rid of one of your emotions isn't normal or healthy or natural. If he leaves my body, he takes my anger with him, and if that happens, I'm not sure what the consequences will be. It could be any type of black magic that could affect me, or the others, or even the whole of Jump City." He amethyst eyes stared up into his mask, and he sucked in a breath; she looked almost terrified. "I don't want anyone to get hurt."_

"_No one will get hurt, Raven." He put a gloved hand on her shoulder in firm assurance. "Whatever it is, we can protect you from it. I promise."_

At the sound of his voice, her eyes snapped open, and instead of their usual brilliant purple, they were a murky, swirling black. He could see tears sparkling down her cheeks as she looked in the direction of the sound, almost as though she was crying without even realizing it. Her mouth moved without sound, lips stretched in a scream that his ears couldn't hear.

All of a sudden, her magic was sucked back into her body, leaving the room feeling distinctly empty and quiet. It wasn't finished, though. The black power began creeping over her body twining its way down her arms and around her legs, scraping delicately, in a sickeningly loving sort of way, against her tender wrists and her neck. Wherever it touched, he could see a faint smoke rising, like it was… burning…

Sound now choked its way out of her throat, and Raven screamed once more, keeling over and writhing on the floor, her eyes still, still covered in the black substance. He took this opportunity to sprint towards her, leaping over the broken remnants of the mirror that had been standing in the corner, and just barely managing to avoid slipping on the pages of a spell book that had been shredded by the wrath of her uncontrollable magic.

"Raven!" he called once more, dropping to his knees in front of her and putting a hand on her arm. There was nothing—he couldn't see anything—why was it hurting Raven, and not him? His hand passed through, again and again and again. "No, no, no, no, no!" He whispered, trying to grab the magic somehow. "No!"

"_I'm feeling better, really, I am." Raven told him tiredly, leaning against the arm of the couch. "I just need to make up some sleep."_

_Robin frowned, looking at her. The bags under her eyes were going away; instead of looking like huge black and blue bruises, they were shrinking back in on themselves. Her face looked more relaxed than he had seen it in days, and she wasn't constantly tense anymore. He also hadn't had to run to her room any time recently. "If you say so…" Still he was hesitant. These __**things, **__these night terrors, had been persistent thus far._

_She smiled at him from behind only half-open eyes. "See? I haven't had an episode in five days. I think I'm going to be alright."_

Once more, at the sound of his voice, it changed. The magic then disappeared completely; Robin couldn't see it anywhere. He sat there on his heels, bewildered, until Raven's limp form tightened up again, and she began clawing at her own skin, skin that now had burns curling around on it. "They're all over…" she whispered, and Robin actually leaned closer to hear what she was saying. "Please, please get them off…"

Her nails ripped through the layers of skin, and blood squeezed out, coating her hands and running down her limbs, and still she tore and tore at her own skin, the tears pouring out of her eyes faster now, overflowing. "Help!" She cried, her hands moving up to her neck. "Help me!"

"No, Raven!" Robin lunged for her hands. If she tried to scratch there, she could accidentally hit a major artery in her throat. He forced her down and lay on top of her, pinning her arms up above her head. This was not an easy task, as she was convulsing and sobbing, terrified at the thought of a heavy weight lying on top of her and constricting her movement.

"Stop touching me!" The empath shouted in his ear, thrashing about. "_You don't control me anymore!"_

Before Robin knew what was happening, he was tossed into the air as if he were a rag doll and smashed again the ceiling. "No more!" cried Raven, still lying on the ground and allowing her powers to whip her team leader around her demolished room. He was thrown against the wall, then hurdled across the room and pounded into the parallel wall. Up, down and sideways he was thrown, to the rhythmic sounds of Raven's broken cries and the bones in his body crunching.

It hurt, it hurt so much, and Raven didn't even know that she was doing it. "Stop…" he tried to gasp out, but instead a red, sticky liquid burbled out and he coughed, feeling a searing pain on the right side of his chest. She flung him this way and that, and eventually Robin felt his vision blurring, and his senses dulling.

_I'm not… I can't be…_

_What's going on…?_

_I don't feel anything…_

_Why—_

_-------_

**Author's Notes:**

Because we all know that the end isn't ever _really _the end.

Read and review, please.


	15. Monster

Wow, it's been a while. Trying to get back into the swing of things, but it's difficult. This one has been sitting, half finished, in Word for a while now, so I decided to run with it. I hope you like it!

**66. Monster**

Robin was sleeping peacefully in the hospital wing. Starfire was sitting by his side, chatting with a sick Beast Boy who was in the other bed, and all three of them being looked after under the watchful eye of Cyborg as he monitored the machines and made sure that everything was stable.

Raven smiled at them all, grateful that they were all safe and relatively happy. She disappeared with a press of black energy, reappeared in the bathroom and promptly threw up into the toilet.

The empath leaned her head against the cool wall and attempted to breathe deeply and calmly. She squeezed her purple eyes shut and tried to block out the images, the sounds, the _feelings _that she knew would never be leaving her head. There was simply too much stuffed in there now, too much that she was exposed to for her to ever try and get rid of. They were pounding in her brain so badly that Raven was surprised she was able to make it this long without breaking down.

When she had entered Robin's mind, she had had no idea what she was getting herself into. As soon as she was in there, she was overwhelmed by the essence that was _Robin_. He was so distinct with his thoughts, memories and emotions that it was like a fingerprint; there was no way that it could have been anyone else. And yet it was all so tangled, all so much that the only thing that kept her sane was that she held onto the thread that she must save Robin, she must help him or he would kill himself.

Anything less than that, anything at all, and she wouldn't have been able to focus enough to remove herself from Robin's mind.

It was so wrong, it was _so wrong_. She was never supposed to see that, any of it; no one was. That was Robin's private… it was his… he…

Despite her best efforts, a few rebellious tears made their way out of Raven's eyes as her shoulders shook. She clenched her fists and took a deep breath, hoping to settle her stomach before it tried to empty itself again. Had she known what she was about to do to both of them, had she had any idea at all…

The consequences of it would not be going away. Ever. She and Robin would have a mental bond forever, and there was nothing that the two of them could do about it. And now Raven knew… she knew about him. She knew about _all _of him. She had seen it, had felt it through him. Anger and fear and defiance and depression and pain stabbed and tore at her until she was in tatters. His soul, his essence melted into hers until she couldn't tell the two apart anymore.

From now on she would have his urges, his feelings, his thoughts invading her mind. The tinge of golden happiness would ring hr emotions, because that's what Robin was, he showed up in colors of purple determination and shining yellow happiness and red hot focus. And if she didn't learn how to control it, her thoughts would be leaking into his mind through that door she had opened in between them. Her thoughts didn't belong anywhere. Not even in her own head.

She bit her lip and sucked in deep breaths, feeling her body relax and settle and calm and—and she realized that these weren't her breaths. They were Robin's.

Raven's muscles shook with exertion and agitation, and some black tendrils of magic whipped out of the depths of her mind to lash at the mirror and crack the smooth, clean surface. She knew what she should do, what her mother and the others had taught her to do on Azarath ever since she could remember. But she cared too much for her team. And the mere thought of leaving them—of leaving Robin—sent a sick shiver down her spine. Their bond, their meld, so freshly made and ripe, was not going to allow her to be away from him.

And he was awake again. Her upset thoughts had interrupted his dreaming, and now he was on edge and skittish without knowing why. Raven was not looking forward to having a talk with Robin about the repercussions of her little escapade into his brain. Intelligent and logical as her team mate was, he could be irrational and even deeply unreasonable when it came to himself. But for once, Raven wouldn't be able to blame him for it. Just how far she crossed the line disgusted her to no end.

Her stomach rolled again. Raven closed her amethyst eyes and stood up, stumbling over to the sink so that she could wash her mouth out. A glance into the mirror distorted her face, and the empath decided that it would be best for both of them if she just went to sleep.


End file.
